STEVE Price was in no doubts where the blame laid for Warrington Wolves’ 13-12 defeat at Wigan Warriors.

“It was a tough loss,” he acknowledged after a drop-goal from rookie stand-off Josh Woods in the 80th minute ended a spirited Wire fightback.

“We scored three tries to two, so we scored more tries but came away with a loss.

“Full credit to Wigan because I thought they were courageous.

“In saying that, I thought our first half was a bit off the mark in our tackle efficiency, something we really pride ourselves on strongly throughout the season.

“But credit to the lads we addressed that at half time and I thought our tackle control and the little ‘effort’ areas was so much better in the second half.

“We dominated field position but I just thought our game management and our kick outcomes to sets really let us down big time.”

He refused to lay any blame on missed goal kicks, all of which were wide out.

Centre Bryson Goodwin missed the extras to Toby King’s first-half try and Stef Ratchford was wide with two in a second half that Wire won 8-1.

“By no means am I blaming Stef,” added Price.

“We were our own worst enemies at times with our management.

“We showed a hell of a lot of effort and commitment to get back into the fight and be able to dominate field position.

“It’s a team game and by no means was that (missed kicks) a result of why we lost.

“I’m proud of the effort and the commitment.

“We only had 39 percent possession in the first half, so to come away with the game three tries to two, the way we played says a lot about the character within the group.

“In the final 20 minutes we were coming over the top of them and dominating field position.

“But I just thought our kick outcomes to sets were not up to speed.”

Wigan head coach Shaun Wane felt his side deserved the victory, with eight players absent compared to Warrington’s six as well as losing two players to injury in the first half.

“I’m a big Warrington fan. I like how the play, I like the club, they’re a champion club but I thought we deserved it in the end.

“We were busted. We were busted before the game started, with players playing who probably shouldn’t have played but we had nobody else and young kids on the bench.

“We lost Liam Farrell and also Tony Clubb for long periods. We did an hour without some senior players.

“So they dug in, players like Callum Field, Liam Paisley, and it will be good for them.

“For Woods to get the drop goal at the end was champion, I’m made up for him.

“He’s a cool player. He’s relaxed, he’s laid back, which frustrates me sometimes but he’s skilful and he’s done some good things in the past few games while George Williams has been out.

“That’s what I said to him. Give me an headache when George comes back. Don’t make it straightforward, and he’s doing that. I like what he’s doing, he’s a good kid, and he’s very coachable.”

Price said he should have a few players back on board for the home clash with Catalans Dragons on Thursday.

“We’ll swap and change. We’ll dust ourselves off and get right for Catalans,” he said and identified the left second-row position as a concern from the Wigan game, with Harvey Livett and Ben Pomeroy both unavailable.

“We should get Harvey Livett back. Ben Pomeroy will be in consideration and we’ll see how Ben Murdoch-Masila trains throughout the week.”