AFTER this game, Daryl Powell was asked whether or not the things he was seeing on the field made him concerned that his message may not be sinking in among the players.

His reply? A simple “no.”

Given the same basic and costly mistakes continue to be repeated by his Warrington Wolves side, however, is it any wonder that may be some people’s line of thought and that their patience is wearing increasingly thin?

By the same token, a lot of what went wrong at an initially subdued but eventually raucous Mend-A-Hose Jungle was things that a head coach should be able to trust his players with almost as a prerequisite.

It should not, for example, be beyond the abilities of professional rugby league players to play the ball correctly – one of the very first things taught to anyone taking up this greatest of games.

As Powell himself mentioned, the number of errors his team are making in that most basic of areas at the moment is serious alarming and it featured prominently in another horror show of a first half.

It meant any attempt to build pressure fell flat on its face having been forced onto the back foot pretty much from the outset by James Harrison’s early sin-binning.

Had the hosts been inclined to go for the kill instead of methodically building a score through penalty kicks, Wire could have been staring at a much bigger half-time deficit.

It seemed like every time the hosts entered Warrington territory, they came away with points of some kind while at the opposite end of the field, the visitors continued to shoot themselves in the foot.

The similarities between this and the opening period of the Challenge Cup loss to Wigan were staggering, raising the question of whether or not lessons have really been learned.

Once again, they found themselves chasing the game but on this occasion, they managed to catch it up.

Castleford were reeled in by three excellently-taken tries – and this is where the “ifs and buts” start to kick in.

When Connor Wrench darted over to level the scores, Peter Mata’utia was left with a difficult conversion that would have put his side in front going into the final 10 minutes, with regular goalkicker Stefan Ratchford off the field undergoing a HIA.

Would Ratchford – one of the competition’s most reliable players from the tee – have landed it? And if so, what kind of blow would it have dealt to the home side?

Even so, Wire had their visitors on the ropes with 10 minutes to go – and is this where George Williams’ absence was most keenly felt?

That period of the game saw clarity of thought within the Warrington ranks lacking which you would have hoped the likes of Williams and Josh Drinkwater would have provided.

Of course, having a completely makeshift half-back pairing impacts greatly on a side but facing them down was a Castleford team with key men missing themselves, not least influential hooker Paul McShane.

The absence of Williams and others cannot be used as an excuse. Once again, this was a defeat Warrington inflicted largely upon themselves.