SAINTS coach Paul Wellens gave his reaction to all aspects of the side's heart-breaking Golden Point defeat by Warrington. 

Q: Did you see that performance coming tonight – given how patchy performances have been in the season and with what was needed to raise your game at this stage of the season?

PW: I saw it coming. I knew it was there.

I thought there was a bit of nonsense talked beforehand with people saying that we got destroyed at Leigh. We didn't get destroyed at Leigh, we lost by six points and it was a really tough physical game. And it was the type of game we needed coming into tonight.

Also, we were looking at Warrington who came in off the back of two results that were 66-0 and 54-0 and we felt that we could catch them cold.

And I think that did happen.

I thought we were more physical. We dominated field position and but for those little mistakes that I call pressure releases, I think we're the dominant team for large parts of that first half.

Q: You could not have wished for a worst start?

PW: It was a poor start, but what a response.

There was a sense that people were thinking this is going to be 12 points, 18 points – it is going to blow out because that's happened in the past.

It happened in the Challenge Cup when we played them. But that's a very different group out there today, what we actually did was respond from that really well.

We didn't let it affect us and we got ourselves back in the game, created and took some good opportunities.

It is probably the best we have attacked in a long time and it is great to see the halves combining like the way they did because 22 points, by our standards, should be enough to win you any game.

(Image: Bernard Platt)

Q: Finding opportunities and finishing them off on the wings perhaps people were not anticipating that in a play-off game?

PW: We spoke all week that we have got to be disciplined, we have got to try and not make errors, try and not give penalties away.

You We did both tonight and got punished for it, but also you can't put the ball away.

In big games you need points to win, you need to be brave if you want to create opportunities and take opportunities. And I thought that's the bravest we've played in terms of with the ball all season.

Q: Difficult when you're playing a team like Warrington, when you've got players like Dufty who can burn you when the returning the kicks, do you have to try and vary your game – and was there a drop off with what you were doing there (in the second half)?

PW: It is so difficult because first and foremost, Warrington's strength is their collective as a group and they are a really good hard working team with a lot of players who bought into what they're about.

But within that, they've got so many dangerous individuals – the likes of Walker, Ashton, but Williams and Dufty being the two main ones, and I suppose from a coaching perspective you'd love to be able to eliminate them from the game.

But they are too good a player to do that, what you have to do is limit the effect that you have on the game.

For large periods we did that and there were other periods where obviously the you know what they are as players shone through.

But the same can be said of us with the likes of Jack Welsby, Jonny Lomax and Morgan Knowles.

It's hard when you're dealing with good players.

Q: The penalty that led to the equalising try for the ball steal when they couldn't get out of their half was an absolute sickener?

PW: Again those moments in games which at the time might seem insignificant, but they are , massive momentum shifts.

We got hurt a few times on the evening with that type of thing.

Q: Anybody in there blaming themselves for any of those errors or are you taking it on the chin collectively?

PW: There's a few disappointed. Obviously, Tommy was disappointed with dropping the kick off and Percy is disappointed with kicking the ball out on the full before at the end, but we not even in that position without Percy. What a clutch kick.

The pressure’s on there the noise in the stadium was outrageous. I watched him kick in warm up and he sliced one I thought might not be his day.

But to kick a goal of that enormity and in a pressure situation like that was incredible - and he gave us a shot, that's what he did.

(Image: Bernard Platt)

Q: You gave it a shot all the way through, even with seconds to go and fought for everything tonight?

PW: Absolutely. We never ever went away from the game and that's what I'm really proud of.

Early on in the year, I mentioned we had a bit of an identity crisis, but what we've done in recent weeks is reconnecting with that identity.

And despite losing a couple of those games, we haven't strayed. We didn't. Straight today, we kept playing our style our style of footy.

We kept playing the way that we want to play in the way, the way we enjoy playing and that's really encouraging for me moving forward.

(Image: Bernard Platt)

Q: You go into the off season off the back of the defeat – and now have a blank piece of paper to work on. But you'd rather going off the back of the defeat like that (than some of the other defeats)?

PW: Absolutely - don't get me wrong, I'm so disappointed we're not in the semi-final next week.

I can't say that enough because I feel in the balance of the game we maybe deserved that. You're right about what you say we. We've lost games this year in a really ugly manner.

And even though losing tonight is really disappointing, it's much easier to say when you haven't rolled over.

We haven't rolled over, far from it the absolute opposite.