“WE pack the two points up, put it behind us and move on looking to improve.”

That was Daryl Powell’s summing-up of his side’s return to winning ways and in many respects, it wraps the game up pretty nicely.

While Warrington Wolves got what they wanted the most from this game – namely two competition points – they cannot say with any conviction that they took steps forward in every area.

“A win is a win,” as the old saying goes and after a difficult couple of weeks, Wire would have taken whatever victory they could fashion in this one as they look to regain form and confidence.

In some areas, they can afford to go away feeling like they are making some form of progress towards that, particularly with the ball.

There was certainly a little more sharpness about Powell’s men with the ball – at their best, they can be a free-wheeling, free-scoring machine of a side and while they are not there yet, this was a step in the right direction.

Were it not for some interventions from video referee Ben Thaler that could at best be described as controversial, they would have had much more than the 30 points they ended up with and that tally would be enough to win the vast majority of games.

However, simply laying the blame for this game being as close as it was at the door of those decisions would be too simplistic a point of view.

The fact Huddersfield were able to remain in touch and come perilously close to snatching the win can be put down to a continuation of the alarming defensive drop-off that has plagued Warrington for some time.

Whether it was slow sliding defence, poor reads or sloppy tackling, Wire allowed their visitors back into the game time and again in completely avoidable fashion.

What has happened to this team that took such pride in soaking up pressure in the early parts of the season? The slip in standards defensively has been such that is surely cannot be put down solely to individual player concentration.

Put simply, Powell and his coaching staff need to put a finger on it and rectify quickly because defence as slack as this will not keep them in contention for trophies.

There are plenty of supporters who are not pleased with what they are seeing from their side at the moment and when they see the same mistakes being made time after time, that point of view gets more understandable.

We can only hope the victory will prove to be the catalyst for a sustained upturn, but those who arrived at The Halliwell Jones Stadium looking for answers on Saturday found only more questions.