Saturday 18 August 2018 00:04, UK
Warrington head coach Steve Price felt that his side were distracted by next week's Challenge Cup final as they fell to a 28-18 defeat to Castleford Tigers.
Last weekend the team thrashed Catalans Dragons, their opponents at Wembley, 56-6 in the opening round of the Super 8s but weren't able to produce the same result on Friday night.
Price's side found themselves 16-0 down at the interval and despite clawing it back to 16-12 midway through the second half, the home team ran away with the encounter as the final quarter played out.
"It clearly showed that our attitude was elsewhere tonight," Price said.
"We spoke about it all week, not looking at the big picture, it's about the present and it clearly showed that we had our heads elsewhere.
"It was very disappointing in the first 40 [minutes] but we had done really well to get back in the game, to get back to within four points. We showed some good glimpses but they were clearly the better team tonight.
"We have been really good at going from Super League to Challenge Cup mode and Challenge Cup back to Super League throughout the season, but I think a few blokes were looking at the game next weekend."
Price also gave an update on the injuries picked up during the defeat.
"We have no idea [on Mitch Brown]. He has been taken to hospital, we should find out more tomorrow," said the 39-year-old.
"Tyrone Roberts will be fine. Ben Pomeroy was playing nearly 60 minutes with a foot injury and other than that we aren't too bad. [Clark] was more precautionary. The game was gone at that point."
Castleford boss Daryl Powell believes his side deserved the victory, which moved them within one point of second-placed Wigan, and is relieved to have some breathing space from in-form Huddersfield.
"I thought we were good for large parts, I thought we were really controlling in the first half but in general, that's a big win for us," he said.
"If you lose that, Huddersfield are sneaking up, they have a lot of momentum behind them and [the win] eases the pressure a little bit.
"I think it has opened up for us to start and develop some consistency about us, which we haven't really got at the moment."
