Double derby delight for Warrington Wolves

Warrington Wolves made it back to back derby wins as they defeated local rivals Wigan Warriors 16-10 at the Halliwell Jones Stadium.

The Wolves followed up their derby success at Widnes last week as they inflicted the first defeat of the season on the Warriors which was more convincing than the scoreline suggests, with the visitors getting a late consolation try with the last play of the game.

Warrington raced into an 8-0 lead and should have had the game out of sight by the interval.

Man of the match Bryson Goodwin opened the scoring after just three minutes as he banged over a penalty after Tony Clubb was penalised for a late challenge on Tyrone Roberts.

Then on eight minutes Warrington scored their first try as good work by Kevin Brown and Ben Currie got Tom Lineham over in the corner, with Goodwin adding the extras from out wide to make it 8-0.

Warrington’s domination should have seen them further in front by the break but they were unable to take their chances.

They lost Ben Currie in the 18th minute with a knee injury as he was replaced by Ben Murdoch-Masila.

It was 29 minutes before the Warriors threatened the Warrington try line but George Williams wasted a golden opportunity when he knocked on.

Just before the interval Warrington should have added to their score but Ryan Atkins knocked on just short of the line.

Warrington got off to a flying start again at the start of the second half but Atkins had a try chalked off by the video ref after Roberts broke but Murdoch-Masila knocked on his kick.

On 47 minutes Warrington extended their lead with another Goodwin penalty after Sam Tomkins was penalised for a high shot on Stefan Ratchford in front of the sticks to make it 10-0.

On 52 minutes Warrington had another penalty after Bateman was punished for moving off the mark but Goodwin dragged his kick wide of the posts.

But it didn’t take long for Warrington to extend their lead to 16-0 after a bulldozing run from Murdoch-Masila had the Warriors on the back foot. A high kick from Kevin Brown saw Ryan Atkins touch down with Goodwin adding the extras.

Wigan finally got ont he scoresheet in the 62nd minute after Marshall got over in the left hand corner after a good break by Leuluai. Tomkins was unable to add the extras.

Although the Warriors finished the stronger they couldn’t add to their tally until the final play of the game when Clubb forced his way over and Tomkins added the extras to make the scoreline flatter Wigan at 16-10.

After the game Head Coach Steve Price said: “The score line wasn’t a reflection of the game, I thought, especially the first half. With our execution at times and the amount of possession we had in that half I thought we should have come away with a few more points; a missed opportunity just before half time, a dropped ball before the try line. And straight after half time we created another opportunity there but it wasn’t to be. They (Wigan) are a quality football team and have been a top four Super League for a lot of years so it’s good to come away and get the result.

“I thought there were quite a number of good performances. Mike Cooper played 60 straight. Sitaleki in his first game for the club showed a lot of good signs and Bryson Goodwin was nice and aggressive on that left edge. A good team performance.”

Price confirmed  Ben Currie had suffered a knee injury and would be sent away for scans.

Wolves: Ratchford, Lineham, Goodwin, Atkins Brown (M) Brown (K) Roberts, Hill, Clark, Cooper, Currie, Hughes, Westwood.

Subs: Murdoch-Masila, Crosby, Akauola, Patton.

Warriors: Tomkins (S), Davies, Bateman, Gildart, Marshall, Williams, Powell, Clubb, Leuluai, Flower, Tomkins (J), Farrell, O’Loghlin.

Subs: Sutton, Tautai, Isa, Escare.

📽 We catch up with @Moala7Akauola after his home debut in win over Wigan ⬇ pic.twitter.com/mgFWNyGK2n

— Warrington Wolves (@wolvesrl) February 23, 2018