LONDON: Leeds Rhinos head coach Brian McDermott admitted the pride of everyone at the club had taken a massive blow after their title defence was officially ended by Widnes Vikings on Sunday.
Bottom of the Super League and now mathematically out of the running for a top-eight finish, Leeds must now turn their attention to staying in the top division in the qualifiers.
It took a last-gasp drop goal by Joe Mellor to condemn them to a 23-22 defeat after an exhilarating contest in which the Rhinos squandered a 12-point advantage with 28 minutes remaining.
Australian Mitch Garbutt's try looked to have put the game beyond Widnes, but the Vikings' southern hemisphere stars Pat Ah Van and Rhys Hanbury hauled them back, before Mellor's last-gasp heroics.
"It's a dent to the pride, absolutely. That's not what we're about and it's not where we want to be," said McDermott.
"It's where we're at because of certain things that have happened this year that have been out of our control, but at the same time, there are things we need to learn.
"The Kirkstall issue (flooding at the training ground) and the injuries have had a huge part to play, but we should have learnt along the way.
"If you take the context out of the game, that was a good performance. The danger is the overreaction to this for everybody involved.
"We're going to get to a stage where we're playing in the qualifiers and we need to be as good as we can be."
In Sunday's only other fixture, fifth-placed St Helens held off a spirited challenge from Wakefield Wildcats to win 44-32, despite a hat-trick from former Wests Tiger Jacob Miller.
Hull KR held Warrington Wolves to a 16-16 draw thanks to Iain Thornley's late score, but 10th-placed Huddersfield Giants caused the shock of the weekend on Thursday evening, as they beat top-of-the-table Hull FC 22-12.
Former Sydney Roosters and Manly Sea Eagles forward Tom Symonds was on the scoresheet for Huddersfield, who kept up their slim hopes of avoiding the qualifiers with the win.
And after consecutive wins at the Giants helm, outgoing interim coach Andy Kelly was thrilled with the reaction from his players.
"After the Wakefield defeat (in the Challenge Cup) they worked really hard," he said.
"They were also really honest about what went wrong and all you can ask players is that they accept some responsibility and try to put things right.
"We needed confidence and belief in each other to keep going and finish the job. We kicked long and chased hard and the boys committed themselves to the defensive stuff. That was the key."
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