Warrington coach James Lowes was left bitterly disappointed after watching his side's "shocking" home loss to Huddersfield.
Wolves coach fumes after latest loss
Warrington coach James Lowes was left bitterly disappointed after watching the "shocking" display which resulted in his side throwing away the chance of a home tie in the Super League play-offs.
The Wolves ended the regular season with four straight defeats, with Saturday bringing a 38-20 thrashing by the Huddersfield Giants at the Halliwell Jones Stadium.
Bradford's late 18-16 victory at Castleford thus enabled the Bulls to snatch fifth place, with Warrington now bracing themselves for a trip to Perpignan to take on Catalans Dragons in the elimination play-off next Saturday.
Lowes' men were booed off the field after conceding six tries to the Giants, a side they had beaten three times earlier in the season.
"It was shocking," admitted Lowes. "We were poor throughout and I'm not very happy at all. We have a lot of things to work on. We seem to have a bit of a wall.
"The boys worked extremely hard to get into fourth spot and it was in our hands. Unfortunately, we have failed to produce in the last couple of games. It looks like we are running out of gas a bit.
"But we are in the six. We've got to get this out of our system tomorrow. Harsh words will be said and we'll get on with the play-offs. We've a tough game next week."
Warrington went into the match without former captain Lee Briers, who is still troubled by a knee injury, and could be without his successor Adrian Morley for the trip to France.
The England prop sustained a rib injury early in the game and was unable to go back on, while Warrington also suffered injuries to forwards Paul Rauhihi (back) and Rob Parker (ankle).
"We think he (Morley) has torn one of his stomach muscles," Lowes added.
"We'll see how it settles down but it must be bad for 'Moz' not to come back."
Warrington were already without Paul Johnson, Stuart Reardon, Vinnie Anderson, Louis Anderson and Chris Bridge.
Handsome pay-off
Meanwhile, former Wigan forward Stephen Wild's switch to centre paid off handsomely for Huddersfield when he scored a try in each half, while skipper Chris Thorman finished with 18 points from a try and seven goals from eight attempts.
"It was an excellent way to finish the season off," Huddersfield's assistant coach Keiron Purtill said.
"We've had some ups and downs this year and I think this victory ranks up with the Wigan away victory.
"I think we owed Warrington one. They have pipped us twice this year but this time we dug in deep and got our rewards with a win."
Purtill will now leave Huddersfield to rejoin St Helens as assistant coach while Castleford-bound forwards Stuart Jones and Ryan Hudson fittingly ended their Giants careers on a high note.
"Jones is an ultimate professional and it's sad to see him go," Purtill added. "We made him captain and he led the team by example."
