DARYL Clark says now is not the time to panic despite Warrington Wolves’ worrying recent form.

The Wire go into Saturday’s Challenge Cup semi-final against Hull FC on a run of four defeats in six games – the latest being today’s 27-18 defeat at Castleford Tigers.

Hull have also closed the gap behind Wolves in Super League to two points and with St Helens far ahead at the top, the chasing pack are closing in on them.

However, Clark believes it is too early to be overly concerned about the team’s form.

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He also retains full confidence that the clash at the University of Bolton Stadium can be the catalyst for turning their fortunes around as they approach the business end of the campaign.

“We obviously started the season really well but we’ve dropped off of late,” he said.

“Most teams go through these sorts of patches in a season. Hopefully we can pick it up again now going into the business end.

“I think it’s a bit too early to be worrying.

“We’ve not been as good as we were earlier on in the season but we’re confident we can get back to that.

“Obviously, we have a lot of work to do but we’re not at panic stations yet.”

Despite another excellent individual performance, Clark was on the losing side as he returned to former club Castleford.

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The Wire put in a below-par, error-strewn display at the Mend-A-Hose Jungle and Daryl Powell’s men were in the mood to take full advantage to boost their own play-off hopes.

England hooker Clark says the number of handling mistakes his side made meant they never gave themselves a chance of victory, even though they briefly led 14-12 in the early stages of the second half.

“Any loss is tough, whether it’s at your old club or not,” he said.

“They played really well, and we were miles off.

“We made 16 errors in the game – if you give any good attacking side that amount of time on the ball, they are going to punish you and they did.

“We weren’t good enough but credit to Cas. They played well.

“We would have liked to have come into the semi-final on the back of a win and a bit of good form but it’s not to be.

“We should be consistent and up there every week but for some reason, we’re not.”