Robbie Farah fears the Wests Tigers may regret blowing the opportunity to take Manly to the cleaners on Thursday night, admitting the tight win felt more like a loss.
The Tigers emerged from their 22-20 win over the Sea Eagles still in the hunt for finals football, but needing plenty to fall in their favour both this weekend and next if they are to figure.
After they shot out to a 22-8 lead early in the second half, the Tigers conceded two late tries at Campbelltown to remain well behind both the Warriors and Brisbane on points differential.
"We're on life support, to be honest," Farah said.
"It's disappointing we didn't put our foot down and win by 20 or 25 points to really close the gap on the for-and-against.
"It kind of feels like a loss to be honest. We got away with a win, but we were pretty lucky in the end."
With the Warriors four points clear after their defeat of Penrith, the Tigers need to make up 52 for-and-against points on Brisbane as well as have Wayne Bennett's men lose both of their last two games.
Thursday's late collapse marked Ivan Cleary's team's third in as many wins, after they led Newcastle 22-4 and Canberra 20-4 but failed to win either game by more than 10 points.
"There's been a bit of a trend in the last month those performances," Farah said.
"It's disappointing when we needed an 80-minute performance to really put the pressure on those teams above us with their differential."
But it doesn't mean Farah wants the Tigers to throw caution to the wind and chase points from the outset against his former teammates at South Sydney next week.
The Tigers' game has been built around their defence this year as they are on track for their best ever season in that department as a merged club.
However they are also set for their worst ever attacking year in their history unless they put points on next week, a real issue given the possible permutations headed into the final round.
"That (throwing the ball around) doesn't always get you the result either," Farah said.
"We've got to earn the right to do that, we've got to stick to the basics and points come off the back of that.
"We're playing the Rabbitohs next week who are very hard to break down and one of the best defensive teams in the comp."
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