WARRINGTON Wolves won a thrilling roller coaster ride against arch rivals St Helens with a 35-28 victory at the Halliwell Jones Stadium to cement top spot in the Super League table.
In a pulsating contest Warrington ran into an 18-0 lead in as many minutes but were then rocked by an amazing fight back as the visitors stormed back to lead 18-22 at the break.
But the Wolves held their nerve and battled back in the second half, scoring 16 points without reply, before Saints threatened another amazing come back.
It tooka Lee Briers drop goal 5 minutes from time to settle the home fans’ nerves as the Wolves held out to record their first league double over Saints since the 1993-4 season – and their first in the history of Super League.
It was Warrington’s first home win over Saints since a 2001 success at Wilderspool and they will now be hoping they have shrugged off their long lasting hoodoo.
Less than 60 seconds were on the clock when Michael Monaghan charged down Lee Gaskell’s poor clearance to hack the ball forward outpacing Paul Wellens to score.
Gaskell then knocked on deep in Warrington’s half and after back-to-back penalties, Rhys Williams crossed in the corner after Ryan Atkins put him in the clear.
A Lee Briers’ crossfield kick followed which was brilliantly taken by Matt King, who suffered an injury touching down. Although King battled on in the first half he failed to appear in the second.
Brett Hodgson kicked all three conversions for an 18-0 lead.
But back came Saints as James Graham powered over to score from first receiver, quickly followed by Gaskell after brilliant offloads from Chris Flannery and Jonny Lomax.
Lomax and Francis Meli then combined well to put Foster in at the corner, although his third conversion attempt was wide.
Saints were now in total control and after three penalties Graham’s offload to Tony Puletua gave the visitors the lead for the first time.
Saints started the second half with a James Roby 40-20 kick to put the Wolves on the back foot but Lomax lost the ball in the first tackle which proved to be a turning point. Graham conceded a penalty, Ben Westwood took Briers’ short pass and scored despite juggling the ball he managed to touchdown as he crossed the line.
The Wolves were now rampant again as Richie Myler’s offload put Paul Wood in and after Foster’s kick-off went out on the full,bouncing off the cross bar Hodgson cut inside to score. Saints still didn’t give up as Puletua’s second try gave them a glimmer of hope, but Briers’ 40-metre drop-goal settled any Warrington nerves as they held on for a morale-boosting win.
Head of Coaching Tony Smith was delighted with the result saying:”It was a good game, particularly for those conditions.The game was full of ebbs and flows, twists and turns, as it always is when Saints and Warrington play each other.
“I’m pleased with the performance. We get a lot more satisfaction from one of those games than from the blow-out scores you get against some teams.
“We lost control of that game at different stages but the good thing is we kept our composure.”
Prior to the kick off their was a minutes applause in memory of former player and assistant coach Paul Darbyshire he lost his battle with Motor Nuerone disease earlier in the week.
Picture shows Matt King leaping to score the third try which resulted in a back injury which makes him a major doubt for Castleford next week.
For more pictures from the game CLICK HERE
