BEATEN Huddersfield Giants left the field to a standing ovation after coming so desperately close to knocking holders St Helens out of the Challenge Cup at the first hurdle.
But the boos that greeted match referee Ronnie Laughton as he departed the arena summed up the mood of all those who had backed the Giants' cause.
As head coach Jon Sharp was launching his scathing attack on the Barnsley official at the post-match press conference, he was only echoing the thoughts of thousands of Giants fans watching from the stands.
Yes, Huddersfield did produce an outstanding performance and can count themselves incredibly unlucky not to have progressed to the fifth round.
But, somehow, there was always a feeling that referee Laughton would emerge as the tie's major talking point.
Even before kick-off, his late appointment had caused major controversy.
Oldham's Ian Smith was to take charge - until St Helens discovered on Friday that he had been at a Giants' Squadbuilder function the night before, and set the wheels in motion to get him replaced.
"Ian's whole integrity has been questioned over this, which is wrong," blasted Sharp on hearing about the switch.
"This has set a precedent. Does it now mean referees can't attend club luncheons and kiddies functions if they are about to officiate a match involving that same club?"
But if Sharp was angry before kick-off, he was absolutely livid by the end of the 80 minutes.
Just as at Warrington two weeks before, Laughton had ruled some massive calls against the Giants - calls that were to prove Huddersfield's downfall.
And it was a classic case of deja vu in yesterday's Cup-tie, with two crucial decisions going against the home side.
Decision No1 came a minute before the break.
St Helens' winger Ade Gardner lost the ball in his own 20 as a result of a crunching Paul March tackle.
As the ball rolled free under Gardner's body, March gratefully picked up and scampered over.
But the referee's call was a knock-on against the Giants scrum half and the chance to be 18-8 ahead at the break had been denied.
Then in the 49th minute came key decision No2.
For starters, a Sean Long kick-through on the sixth tackle was hit straight at a defender and was somehow ruled a charge down and the tackle count was wiped clean.
In the first half, however, that happened to the Giants and the ruling was that it was still the last!
But worse was to follow as St Helens then worked the position for Darren Albert to attempt to squeeze over in the corner.
Under Chris Nero's tackle, the ball shot free and both touch judge and in-goal judge acted as if it was simply play-on.
Unfortunately, referee Laughton had other ideas and ruled a try should be given, even though he was standing around 20m away from his assistants.
And that was to be the game's turning point.
The unconverted score made it 18-12 and St Helens, who until then had clearly been second best, finally clicked into gear.
In typically destructive style, they followed up immediately with two stunning tries to complete a burst of three in five minutes.
Only Saints have the ability to do that.
And there could certainly be no complaints about the quality - or legitimacy - of those particular efforts.
In the 52nd minute, the ball was worked to the left wing for Gardner to scorch down the flank before throwing an excellent inside pass to Vinnie Anderson to finish off.
Jame Lyon added the extras and then did the same two minutes later after his initial break almost immediately from the restart sent the supporting Albert over for his second.
In an instant, the Saints had turned an 18-8 deficit into a 24-18 lead and had created a winning platform.
A 65th-minute Paul White try after good work from Brad Drew and James Evans kept the Giants well in the hunt at 24-22, with Michael De Vere finally proving he is human by missing the touchline conversion!
But despite forcing St Helens to twice drop out from under their posts in the final few minutes, the visitors were able to hang on as Lyon landed a 72nd-minute penalty to complete the scoring.
How different it had been early on as the Giants dominated for long spells.
It was certainly no surprise when the Giants took the lead after nine minutes through a typical short-range effort from the explosive Stanley Gene after Paul Reilly had initially created the opening.
De Vere added the conversion, albeit on the referee's nod after one touchjudge ruled it had gone through the sticks and the other didn't!
Although Lee Gilmour levelled the scores with a try and Lyon landed two goals to nudge his side 8-6 ahead by the 27th minute, the home side were soon back in control.
Five minutes before the break, Gene cleverly kicked ahead for Marcus St Hilaire to follow up and touch down with ease.
De Vere again converted superbly from the touchline.
March's denied try just before the break failed to knock the Giants out of their stride and within three minutes of the restart Gene set up the position for Nero to step through for his first of the season, and it was 18-8.
But at that stage the contest was far from over.
* Huddersfield Giants opened their Junior Academy grading campaign in spectacular style with a 33-32 triumph over Leeds Rhinos - full details tomorrow.
