WOLVES hooker Daryl Clark rued missed opportunities as they slipped to a third Grand Final defeat in five years against Wigan.

Ryan Atkins had a try ruled out by the video referee, while several more promising situations were spurned in the defeat at Old Trafford.

After the game, Clark held nothing back, saying The Wire ‘threw it away’.

“It’s the second final we’ve come up short in and we’ve been in positions to win both of them,” he said.

“To throw it away again in a major final is pretty disappointing. The players are pretty down.

“We were in a winning position at half-time so we only had 40 minutes to see the game out. If Ryan’s try was given I feel as though the game would have been done.

“We didn’t take enough of our opportunities when they came around but we should have been closing that game out.”

Saturday’s showpiece was Clark’s first experience of Old Trafford having lost twice at Wembley during his career.

His superb form in his second year at The Halliwell Jones Stadium earned him the club’s Player’s Player of the Year awards but he says the Grand Final disappointment puts a huge dampener on a promising season and is tougher to take than the Challenge Cup Final loss at Wembley.

“The League Leaders’ Shield is a nice prize but everyone knows it’s not the one you strive for,” he said.

“We had a chance tonight and we feel like we threw it away.

“With Wembley, we knew we had more to play for and still had another final to get to. We knew that wasn’t the end of the season whereas this is.

“We’ve got a long time to wait before we can do anything about it. You thrive to come back and avoid feeling like this again but it’s a long off-season.

“It’s a long time before we’ll be back in so hopefully we’ll be good enough to be back here again and put this right.”