Dowson salutes Saints' 'relentless effort' after incredible late show at Wasps

Courtnall Skosan's score from the final play of the game secured a memorable 40-36 win as Saints grabbed two tries in the last three minutes at the Coventry Building Society Arena.

The game looked to be drifting away when Will Haydon-Wood stepped up to slot a penalty for Wasps, taking the score to 36-28 in the home side's favour.

But Saints refused to believe they would be beaten, despite having shipped an avalanche of penalties throughout the game.

And Skosan's late score sealed a memorable bonus-point win as Dowson's side picked up their second victory of the Gallagher Premiership season in incredible fashion.

"We didn't get into our game at all really," Saints boss Dowson said.

"In the first half we overplayed in certain areas, we were poor at the breakdown - Jack Willis was outstanding but we knew he was going to be.

"The breakdown wasn't great, we gave them opportunities in our half and they took them, the same as last week at Quins.

"But what I did like was our relentless effort to stick at it and make sure that we stuck to our guns, believed in our DNA, that game plan and came back strongly towards the end."

Saints had a really tough day at the breakdown, with flanker Jack Willis winning several penalties for Wasps.

And Dowson knows his side must improve significantly in that area in the weeks and months to come.

"It's nothing to do with the referee," he said. "It's how we react to the breakdown, it's where we play the game on the field and it's the opportunities we give to them and where we attack.

"There are loads of different things without bringing the referee into it.

"We weren't good enough in that area and myself and Ferg (Matt Ferguson) look after that area from a coaching point of view so we'll make sure we learn lessons because there are guys of Jack Willis's capability throughout the league who are going to try to slow us down and stop us from playing."

Dowson was also disappointed with some of Saints' attacking decisions.

"That decision-making around when and where to attack is key - and we're probably not getting that right at the moment," he said.

"But what we are doing is doing enough to get ourselves into games.

"The next stage for us to kick on is to be better at that decision making as to when we need to play and when we need to be a bit more pragmatic."

Saints have pulled off some incredible comebacks in recent history, notably at Bath late last season.

And Dowson insists he never felt they were done at Wasps.

When asked if he felt it was game over with three minutes to go, he said: "Not with this group and not currently in the league.

"You see it across the league with the number of big scores and comebacks that have been happening.

"It's never done really because you can score quickly in this league - and thank goodness we did."