SAINTS head coach Paul Wellens said he is minded not to be ‘overly critical’ of his players after a home defeat to a Warrington side that was hit with both red and yellow cards.

A fourth defeat in a row was suffered for the first time since 2016 when Wire sealed a 24-10 success with two late tries.

But the visitors were reduced to 12 men when prop James Harrison was sent off in the 20th minute for a high tackle on Noah Stephens and then were down to 11 for 10 minutes of the second half when Matty Nicholson was sin-binned.

Wellens’ side failed to score while their opponents were two men short but Sam Royle’s score added to Agnatius Paasi’s 46th-minute effort left Saints 12-10 behind with 13 minutes remaining.

But rather than take advantage of the situation, Wire rattled up their fourth win in a row – and their second at the Totally Wicked Stadium this year – with tries in the final 10 minutes from Adam Holroyd and Matty Nicholson.

“It’s disappointing,” said Wellens.

“When they went down to 12 men we had that numerical advantage and then they had 11, I thought it was a game that we probably should have gone on and won.

“But I thought our skill let us down. I thought we made too many errors, decision making at times - in particular when we had the numerical advantage - wasn’t quite where it needed to be to nail a few opportunities.

“I think if we’d have done that it would have been a different result for us but I suppose what I have to do is give huge credit to the opposition for the way they dug in.

“When you go down to 12 men you have a choice to make whether you want to dig deep or use it as an excuse and obviously Warrington dug deep so congratulations to them on what is, for them, a good win.”

He added: “I’m very conscious not to be overly critical of the playing group at this moment in time.

“What I am doing is asking a hell of a lot from a small group of players.

“There’s no doubt we’re under pressure at the moment and results are not going our way, and I think with that comes a little bit of anxiety and tension, and I think that’s showed up in that period where we had the numerical advantage – a little bit of forcing things and just trying a little bit too hard at times and I think that can hurt you. And it did hurt us tonight.”