SAINTS boss Justin Holbrook rued his side's missed opportunities in their disappointing defeat by Wigan.

The loss means qualification for the top four is now out of their own hands, even if they win their remaining three games.

They got off to a shocking start – and had conceded two tries within six minutes.

Holbrook said: “It was tough but I thought we recovered from the start.

“It was the first time we have been in that situation but we clawed our way back and missed a few chances.

“That hurt us in the long run; we showed signs of clawing our way back in but it was too little too late.

“I thought Ben Barba went well and tried hard for 80 minutes. We put him in a tough position by being 14-0 down but I thought his game was really strong.

“He will be better - but we are running out of time for him to get better.

"I look forward to seeing him next week.

“We know we have to win the next three games – we needed to win tonight but now we are relying on other teams.

“It is what it is – we have to win at Wakefield which will get us one point behind and then move on from there.”

He explained his decision to leave out in-form Theo Fages after re-jigging his halves and not finding him a spot on the bench.

"It was a big decision to leave out Theo and go with four big men.

"It was disappointing for him.

"That said we went with Dominique Peyroux on the bench and Ryan Morgan picked up a head knock and Dom had to go on there in the centres," he said.