Warrington coach Paul Cullen admitted his side "caved in" after being in control of their engage Super League derby with Wigan at the JJB Stadium.
The Wolves led 14-6 until the sin-binning of Vinnie Anderson just before half-time and, after conceding three tries in a seven-minute spell early in the second half, they went on to suffer a 38-14 defeat.
It was their fifth loss in their last six matches and their misery was compounded with the loss of influential scrum-half Michael Monaghan with a leg injury in the closing moments of the match.
"The last 30 minutes was a poor effort and we're bitterly disappointed with our discipline and our defence on the back of it," said Cullen.
"To go in with a lead at half-time with a man down was a decent effort and I thought we had weathered the storm of being a man short.
"But we are bitterly disappointed with the way we caved in in the last 30 minutes.
"It's been a costly defeat but injuries and decisions of the officials have not caused our indiscipline and our weakness in defence.
"We failed to handle Gareth Hock and Iafeta Paleaaeasina and you can't give power athletes that much ball and field position. That proved our downfall."
Hock celebrated his 100th engage Super League appearance in sparkling fashion, setting up two tries and scoring one himself to spark the remarkable transformation.
There was also a welcome return to tryscoring form by Australian stand-off Trent Barrett, last year's leading scorer who opened his Super League account for the season with a brace.
George Carmont, Liam Colbon and Joel Tomkins scored Wigan's other tries, while Pat Richards kicked seven goals from as many attempts as the Warriors bounced back in style from their Cardiff humiliation by arch rivals St Helens.
"We were very determined after the embarrassment by Saints and now we need to kick on," said Wigan coach Brian Noble.
"We knew if we gave ourselves an even share of possession, we would win the game.
"I thought our front row was immense and Gareth Hock was superb. And Trent Barrett showed how sorely he will be missed at the end of the year."
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