STEFAN Ratchford says Warrington Wolves “killed themselves” in exiting the Challenge Cup at the hands of 12-man Wigan Warriors.

The Wire’s dreams of a first Challenge Cup Final since winning the competition in 2019 are in tatters after a dismal display at the DW Stadium.

Despite being reduced to 12 men after just seven minutes following Kaide Ellis’ red card, Wigan were the better side throughout and ran out 14-12 winners.

Daryl Powell’s men almost snatched victory in the final minutes, but Josh Thewlis’ try was ruled out for a forward pass and Wigan were able to hold on.

Warrington’s inconsistent patch of form has now cost them one of the three trophies available to them this season and Ratchford, who was on the receiving end of the head butt that saw Ellis sent off, says they have only themselves to blame.

“I’m not sure if it (Thewlis’ no-try) was forward but we absolutely killed ourselves today,” the Wire skipper told BBC Sport post-match.

“They went down to 12 men but we completed at 40 per cent in the first half.

“No matter how many players the other team’s got, if you complete at that level you’re going to put yourself under too much pressure.

“Wigan played really well with 12 men, but we were really poor and killed ourselves.

“To be honest, we need to learn from the last six weeks.

“We go through patches where we think we’ve cracked it and know what we’re doing, but then we have a 10-15 minute period of killing ourselves again.

“We got ourselves on the front foot but would try and force the pass or come up with an error at the ruck. There were too many errors in there to even compete.

“We stayed in there and gave ourselves a chance, but we left ourselves too much to do.”