LOSING to Wigan is never easy to take, but the manner of defeat on Friday was particularly deflating.

It was painful viewing at times, and the last 20 minutes when they looked dishevelled and broken was a low in a disappointing season.

Thankfully Wigan had taken the foot off the gas by then, debutant centre Oliver Gildart’s 62nd minute try being the last of the night when fears of a greater first ‘nilling’ at The Halliwell Jones Stadium would have been justified.

As it was, a number of supporters did not see that score – they had already headed for home.

A number of things made the embarrassing scoreline even worse than it was, the fact that it was a fourth performance on the run well below par and that the pre-match ‘Smash the Pies’ marketing had backfired in humiliating fashion.

The lessons hopefully learned: Don’t boast of such intentions when the team’s not playing well, don’t leave your home debutant star signing open to ridicule from rival fans and don’t give a side like Wigan additional motivational tools.

Supporters in primrose and blue, some of whom the video was intended to entice to the big ‘derby’ despite it looking like Wolves’ Super 8s campaign was over, left the ground feeling their noses had well and truly been rubbed into those crusty pie remains from Chris Sandow’s video shoot.

There appears to have been a Challenge Cup hangover that just won’t go away, as if the players have not got their heads around that shock semi-final loss to Hull KR and have lost all confidence.

The biggest issue since then has been the lack of penetration, and after Ben Currie was held up over the try line and Gary Wheeler had a score ruled out early on Wolves never got a sniff.

They piled on pressure at times in the opening 60 minutes, with Chris Hill leading the charge, and did right in the wet conditions by forcing drop-outs, but then a handling error would let them down.

In contrast, Wigan, inspired by their Australian full back Matty Bowen, were clinical.

Overall, the standards on show were not good enough for a Warrington club that has progressed significantly over the past 10 years and is in need of a boost to raise some smiles again.

MATCH FACTS

Super 8s Round Three, Friday, August 21, 2015

Warrington Wolves...0 Wigan Warriors...28

Wolves: Stefan Ratchford; Joel Monaghan, Gary Wheeler, Ryan Atkins, Kevin Penny; Chris Sandow, Richie Myler; Chris Hill, Daryl Clark, Ashton Sims, Ben Westwood, Ben Currie, Ben Harrison. Subs: Brad Dwyer, Roy Asotasi, Joe Philbin, George King.

Warriors: Matty Bowen; Josh Charnley, John Bateman, Oliver Gildart, Dominic Manfredi; George Williams, Matthew Smith; Dominic Crosby, Sam Powell, Ben Flower, Joel Tomkins, Liam Farrell, Sean O’Loughlin. Subs: Tony Clubb, Ryan Hampshire, Lee Mossop, Ryan Sutton.

Scoring: Farrell try, 3mins, Bowen goal, 0-6; Flower try, 17mins, Bowen goal, 0-12; Bateman try, 48mins, Bowen goal, 0-18; Bateman try, 57mins, Bowen goal, 0-24; Gildart try, 61mins, 0-28.

Penalties: Wolves 6 Wigan 9

Referee: Robert Hicks

Attendance: 10,095

Top man: Chris Hill

First time Wolves have been nilled since 16-0 loss at Castleford in 2001

Wigan were the last team to previously keep a clean sheet against Wolves, 21-0 at Wilderspool in 1996

Worst home ‘nilling’ was 50-0 against Salford in 1970

Chris Hill’s 300th career appearance