HEAD coach Brian McDermott has urged his Harlequins players and their fans to cast aside the bitter disappointment of their fall to the foot of the Super League table when they entertain the in-form Giants on Saturday.

Quins hit rock-bottom after a 26-22 home defeat to the previously winless Salford City Reds on Sunday, despite holding an 18-4 lead after 50 minutes.

That form is in complete contrast to Huddersfield, who won their last away game 52-0 at Wakefield and then beat Super League champions Leeds Rhinos 26-20 at the Galpharm on Sunday.

And former Giants assistant coach McDermott insists now is not the time for blame and recriminations.

"I know people will look at the score and see we lost at home to Salford and be negative about it but we can’t afford for that to happen," said McDermott.

"It was not a case of us throwing the game away or anything like that.

"Salford just got hold of the game with their kicking tactics in the second half and we just couldn’t get away from our line.

"We did make some wrong decisions in the second half, but we mustn’t dwell on that.

"I’m not going to dig too deep into the reasons for us losing as we need to look forward, not backwards."

The Londoners produced an encouraging, if not spectacular, opening to the game with tries from Danny Orr, Karl Temata and Lamont Bryan opening up a healthy lead.

But with both Jason Golden and Temata departing injured, Quins were ran ragged in the final 30 minutes, leaving Ben Jones-Bishop’s late score a mere consolation.

McDermott added: "We know we are stretched and we know we are missing some important players.

"But that does not mean we should accept losing games.

"You look at our back line out there – players like Jamie O’Callaghan, Will Sharp, Tony Clubb and Ben Jones-Bishop – and there is about 50-odd Super League games between them.

"That is a fact and we have to just keep working hard and learning game by game."