Desperately unlucky Huddersfield Giants must be wondering how they didn’t win this game.
For large chunks of their 11-8 defeat to St Helens they were the better side.
But a combination of missed chances, errors, and the controversial refereeing calls of James Child – again! – meant the Saints, who made just as many mistakes as their hosts marched back across the M62 with two very fortunate League points tucked away.
To say they were grateful was an understatement.
The Giants certainly didn’t deserve to be tied at 6-6 at the break, with the hosts the dominant force for almost all of the opening 40 minutes.
They enjoyed the possessional and territorial advantage throughout, with the fact Saints were 6-1 behind in the penalty count and placed on a team warning for their indiscipline midway through the half underlining the pressure they were under.
It took just four minutes for Huddersfield to hit the front when the visitors were forced to drop-out for the first time and then followed up by conceding their first penalty to put Leroy Cudjoe in the position to crash over from close range with ease.
Danny Brough was unable to convert, but did nudge his side six points ahead midway through the half with a straightforward penalty.
And that was the least the Giants deserved.
But somehow Saints managed to hang in the contest to restrict the home side to half-chances, and were rewarded for their efforts two minutes before the break.
The usual rock-solid Aaron Murphy spilled a towering bomb in the wet conditions close to his line and from the subsequent set Jordan Turner powered over and Travis Burns converted to level the scores.
It was cruel indeed on the dominant Giants.
The Giants also started the second half strongly, with a series of 50-50 calls going against them, preventing them from regaining the lead.
Once again, referee James Child was having a lot to answer for!
It was his highly-debatable calls that resulted in Burns missing a 45th-minute penalty, but making no mistake with an effort 10 minutes later to put the visitors ahead for the first time. No-one knew exactly why the penalty was awarded for that second successful attempt.
As Child continued to lose a grip on proceedings, big Mose Masoe was sin-binned and placed on-report for a late hit on Jamie Ellis in the 58th minute and Brough landed the penalty to level up an absorbing encounter for a second time.
With so little between the sides, Saints chief Luke Walsh cleverly marked his first game of the season through injury by slotting over a 66th-minute drop goal.
And with nine minutes remaining, the lead was increased to three with Burns’ third penalty.
As the game entered its closing moments, Murphy, Jake Connor and Jermaine McGillvary all came agonisingly close to finding a way through.
But in the end this just wasn’t the Giants’ day.
