STEVE Price says Wolves’ continuing issues with penalties and errors took their toll late in the 30-12 defeat to St Helens.

It was only in the last 15 minutes that Saints, the unbeaten Super League leaders, pulled away to secure a victory described by their coach Justin Holbrook as hard-earned.

Price said: “We make it hard for ourselves, don’t we?

“I thought the scoreline flattered us in the end.

“We were doing really well to be down by two with plenty of time to go.

“But when you get a 12-6 penalty count and nearly double the amount of play-the-balls inside your 20 metres as opposed to the opposition it comes back to bite you. We’ve got to fix it.

REPORT: Warrington Wolves 12 St Helens 30

“It comes back to our tackle control. They had far superior play-the-ball speed than ours.

“They had us on the back foot so we have to manage our control around the ruck better and that’ll be a big part of this week.”

Price was asked if the penalties conceded are all of his players’ doing or is his side being caned by the referees at the moment.

“That’s not something I’m going to discuss here,” he said.

PHOTO GALLERY: Warrington Wolves 12 St Helens 30

“But when you’re on the bottom of it and you don’t get the 50:50s it makes it quite difficult.

“When you’re on the front foot you get those 50:50s. They were on the front foot and they got a fair few of them.”

Mike Cooper and Ryan Atkins left the field with injuries, Cooper looking dazed and Atkins limping.

Price said: “Coops is fine. He played a lot of minutes and I’m really proud of his efforts, but he should be ok.

“Ryan is getting assessed at the moment.”