Huddersfield Giants boss Ian Watson on Jake Connor brain snap and worrying reason behind Oliver Russell injury

Connor – making just his third appearance of the year after knee surgery – missed a late conversion but had the opportunity to send the Easter Sunday clash to golden point when he received the ball in drop-goal territory, only to drill it into touch thinking Huddersfield were leading.

"He just lost track of it," said Watson, who saw Tui Lolohea miss with a drop-goal attempt three minutes from time.

"He looked over his shoulder, saw the 18-17 and has been caught up in the moment.

"He said 'I got it wrong' so he's put his hand up and been accountable for it.

"It's one of those things that happen in games when you're under the pump. Jake is still not fully fit yet and is finding his feet.

"That was a tough game to find your feet in and to be able to have a clear head at the back end of the game to come up with a match-levelling drop goal.

"We had two more good ball sets after that and probably could have been a little bit smarter with how we manged the game in those sets.

"That (the Connor error) was nothing. We defended that next set out."

Watson fielded Connor, Lolohea and Will Pryce together for the first time and they combined to give Huddersfield a commanding 12-0 lead inside the opening quarter.

But in the absence of controlling half-backs Theo Fages and Oliver Russell, the Giants lost their way in a frenetic contest.

Huddersfield threatened to snatch the victory in the closing stages after regrouping but Watson was left to count the cost of a training ground injury suffered by Russell leading into the game.

The playmaker is set for an extended period on the sidelines after sustaining a torn hamstring.

"We've been training on a pitch at Siddal which was perfect and now we're training on a different surface," said Watson.

"When you have a pitch like that (hybrid) you have to redo it every year. Unfortunately for us it's fallen at this time. Siddal have been great with us so there are no qualms there.

"It just goes to show your quality of surface makes a massive difference in what you can put out at the weekend.

"We didn't have one hamstring strain while we were training on the pitch at Siddal. We've moved over to a new one and have had two now in Ash Golding and Oliver Russell, and there have been other little niggles as well.

"People don't really look into it or think it is but training facilities are massively important to what you do."