IF the Giants play like this in the Middle 8s, they’ll have absolutely nothing to worry about.

Yes, they may have suffered a 34-30 defeat to finish bottom of the table at the end of the regular Super League XXI season.

But there were so many more positives than negatives for new head coach Rick Stone’s side to take out of this rousing performance against second-placed Warrington, with the hosts securing victory only with a Daryl Clark try with four minutes remaining.

That was harsh in the extreme for the Giants, who battled magnificently from start to finish and boasted a hat-trick tryscorer in Gene Orsmby against his former club.

Huddersfield’s first-half showing was certainly far more encouraging, and they could count themselves unlucky to be trailing 16-14 at the break.

Even when they went 10-0 behind after 14 minutes, there were still some promising signs, with the Giants again matching their opponents strongly down the middle but producing errors at just the wrong time.

That was clearly the case for Stefan Ratchford’s seventh-minute long-range opener as he pounced on a loose ball close to his own line as the Giants looked to keep the ball alive on the last tackle and raced away to score.

And the concession of a cheap penalty paved the way for a slick left-hand side move which ended with Ben Currie strolling over for Kurt Gidley to add the extras.

But despite the setbacks, the visitors refused to crumble and were soon cutting out the mistakes and making the most of the growing pressure they were exerting.

They opened their account midway through the half when Jamie Ellis’s long pass gave Gene Ormsby a walk-in against the club he had moved from on a permanent basis just a fortnight earlier.

Danny Brough landed the conversion and then helped level the scores five minutes later by grubber-kicking through for Aaron Murphy to beat Jake Connor to get the vital touch.

Brough was unable to add conversion No2, but with his influence on the contest growing it was no surprise when he linked up with hard-working Ukuma Ta’ai to enable Ellis to feed Ormsby for his second to make it 14-10 for the men from West Yorkshire.

Unfortunately, that lead was lost on the stroke of half-time, with Rhys Evans breaking from deep to set up the position for Ben Westwood to charge over three plays later.

Gidley made no mistake with the conversion.

But with just a two-point deficit there was obviously still everything to play for.

And within six minutes of the restart the Giants were back in front as young prop Nathan Mason showed tremendous strength to crash over despite the presence of a number of Warrington defenders.

Brough goaled and it was 20-16.

Yet such was the see-saw nature of the contest up to then that it was no great surprise when Chris Sandow skipped through some tired defenders to crash over for Gidley to convert.

That lead was extended five minutes later, albeit fortuitously, after a kick was charged down and fell ideally for the hosts to create the opening for Ryan Atkins to finish off. Gidley’s conversion made it 28-20.

Just like in the first half, though, Huddersfield refused to raise the white flag and they were rewarded in the 64th minute when good hands helped Leroy Cudjoe feed Ormsby to complete his hat trick, although Brough failed to land the touchline conversion in front of the vocal Warrington faithful.

And with 10 minutes remaining the giants hit the front for a second time.

Warrington thought Sandow was racing away after the visitors lost possession close to their opponents’ line.

But referee Jack Smith called everyone back for a Wolves holding-back offence, and from the subsequent set, great work by the Giants halves carved an opening for Craig Huby to charge over under the posts for Brough to convert and make it 30-28.

Almost inevitably, given the first 70 minutes, there was still a great deal left in the contest, with Warrington edging back in front through a close-range Daryl Clark effort after former Meltham All Blacks and Giants Academy centre Toby king had shown great composure in the build-up.

Gidley’s fifth goal from six attempts made it 34-30