SAINTS’ hopes of getting a home play-off were scuppered by an 18-12 defeat at Leigh.
A Josh Charnley try secured the win for the Leopards - and with it their own qualification for the knockout stages.
Saints, who had fought back from 12-0 to level matters, were undone by some poor ball control at both ends of the field.
One such error in a yardage set late in the game ultimately cost them.
Although there was plenty to commend them in a spirited performance, the pack, missing the likes of Alex Walmsley and Curtis Sironen, lacked size and grunt in the face of some ferocious Leigh tackling.
There were key moments early on in the game, with Tommy Makinson having what appeared to be a good try chalked off for a dummy runner obstruction.
And then at the other end Leigh hit the front with a John Asiata try after Jack Welsby had been adjudged to have grazed the touchline fielding a touch finding kick.
Tries from Makinson and Morgan Knowles, when Ricky Leutele was in the sin-bin, made it 12-apiece but Leopards deserved the spoils and would have led by more had they not spilled a couple of gilt-edged opportunities.
But for Saints, disappointing as it was to lose in that manner, it does give themselves a taste of what is in front of them next week when they travel to Warrington in the elimination play-off.
But it has also left them to look at key things to work on.
On the performance Saints boss Paul Wellens said: “Going back a month or so or now we spoke as a group around definite improvements that we needed to make and I reckon week on week since then we've we've made those improvements.
“I thought the game tonight was a playoff game in every sense of the word.
“It's high intensity, two good teams going toe to toe, obviously in a hostile environment, the atmosphere was excellent and that's very similar to what we're going to experience next week.
I like the improvements that we've made.
“There's certainly certainly some bits there that we still need to clean up on.
“But we're certainly a much improved team than what we were a few weeks ago.
“With handling they are the little bits of clean ups that we need to make.
“In big games opportunities are few and far between so when you get them, you've got to be hard on yourselves.
“But what I can't fault out there is anybody's effort.
“The effort and the way they competed was outstanding and the way, at 12 nil down, we kept going at the game.
“I'm very proud of the team and very much looking forward to next week now.”
So all eyes switch to next week and Saturday’s swift return to Warrington, who have already beaten them three times this year.
“Warrington are a good team and it's going to be a hell of a battle,” Wellens said.
“But if we make those improvements that we need to make, we'll make ourselves very difficult to beat.”
At 12-0 down and Leigh looking the most likely to score, the game turned on Leutele’s yellow card for a tackle on Jack Welsby.
Saints made that numerical advantage count to throw the game back into the melting pot.
Wellens said: “I was really pleased we got back in the game and I felt that we were, at that point, in the ascendancy.
“Obviously the sin-binning aided us there a little bit.
“We obviously made an error out of yardage and then got punished, which again, we talk about little improvements.
“They are the little moments that we need to clean up, and if we do we make ourselves more difficult to beat.”
But we are now at the stage of the season where there are no second chances.
If Saints are to be the first team to win it from sixth they will have to beat both Warrington and Wigan on the way to Old Trafford - a tall order in anyone’s book.
But Wellens will take each game as it comes - expressing his pride at his side battling its way to the playoffs after an injury-decimated side slumped in the summer.
It now becomes a different competition for all the teams on the starting grid.
“Us, Warrington, Salford and Leigh are all now in the same boat - it’s do or die,” Wellens said.
“But you know five or six weeks ago, people were asking whether we'd even have a ticket.
“Now we've got a ticket that gives ourselves a chance to go after it.
“And given what we've been through in the last few months I'm really proud of the group that we've given ourselves an opportunity.
“But we need a Herculean effort.”
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