SAINTS boss Justin Holbrook was understandably downbeat after seeing his side knocked out of the Super League semis after losing 18-13 to Warrington.

He cited the lack of creativity with the ball and some poor defensive reads as the reason behind Saints' fourth consecutive semi-final loss.

He said: “It was a good and tough game but we didn’t create enough opportunities.

"Obviously the scoreline shows there wasn’t much in it; we kept nudging in front but made a couple of poor decisions defensively and credit to Warrington they took the ones they created.

“If we played a bit better and defended a bit better … but we didn’t. "They took a few opportunities and we made poor decisions. That was the difference in the game.”

In answering on whether a season with just a League Leaders Shiled had been a success he replied: "It depends who you ask but for me it is a no.

"You work hard all year to give yourselves the best chance but we knew we had to win two more games.

"We had to win tonight to get a chance but didn’t play well enough."

Although the pack stood up well in the war of attrition, Saints ended the sets poorly and played too conservatively at times.

Holbrook added: “We ran around not doing a great deal and they took their chances.

"I am proud of the effort – we worked hard and tried hard for 80 minutes but there’s no next week.”

Holbrook explained that Jonny Lomax suffered a compound finger fracture in the second half.

“He played well and had four blokes busted out there but there are no excuses. We didn’t play well enough and that is hard to say and hard to take,” he said.