WARRINGTON Wolves were given an almighty scare by lowly Wakefield Trinity Wildcates in a titanic tussle at the Halliwell Jones Stadium edging out the visitors 32-30 after being behind for much of the game.
The visitors could have grabbed a deserved draw had Isaac John been able to convert Vince Mellars’ try six minutes from time after Chris Riley failked to collect a kick aallowing Mellar in at the corner.
It was hard to believe that the Wildcats were joint bottom of Super League with just one win to their name this season and five consecutive defeats since their opening day victory over Widnes.
Warrington made a sloppy start as a poor pass from Michael Monaghan allowing Wakefield to press with John slipping Richie Myler’s tackle for Danny Washbrook to stroll over.
John landed the conversion.
Warrington levelled following three successive penalties as Trent Waterhouse charged through three players to give Ryan Atkins a walk over try against his former club with Briers adding the extras.
But Wakefield hit back as Kyle Wood robbed Atkins of possession with the Cats sub then sending Isaac John diving over to extend the lead to 12-6 after 24 minutes.
Matters got worse for Warrington on the half hour when former full-back Richie Mathers jinked his way over with John adding his third conversion.
Back came Warrington as Myler’s try from Ben Cooper’s smart pass cut the gap to 18-12, but the scrum half missed a chance to grab a second try when he fumbled the ball over the line from a Rhys Williams’ kick.
The visitors refused to give in and stretched the interval lead to 20-12 with a John penalty when Paul Wood was sin-binned for a high tackle on former team mate Paul Johnson.
Warrington overcame the handicap of being a man down as Myler took another Cooper pass to race clear for his second try almost straight from the restart but Briers missed the kick.
The Wolves joy was again short-lived with Ali Lauitiiti powering over with John maintaining his 100% record with the boot to extend the lead to 26-16.
Back came Warrington as Briers was provider for Ben Westwood to reduce the arrears to 26-22.
Mathers saved a certain try by plucking the ball from Waterhouse’s grasp following a clever Briers kick as the Wolves stepped up the pressure.
Warrington went ahead for the first time on the hour when Myler’s kick rebounded for Grix to touch down, with Briers adding the goal to make it 28-26.
Joel Monaghan extended the Wolves lead when he scored in the corner after 66 minutes but Wakefield refused to concede defeat scoring again six minutes from time.
Chris Riley failed to collect a kick for Mellars to cross in the corner with John narrowly short with the conversion attempt which would have levelled the scores.
Pictures show Richie Myler and Trent Waterhouse
For more pictures CLICK HERE
Wolves: Chris Riley; Joel Monaghan, Chris Bridge, Ryan Atkins, Rhys Williams; Lee Briers, Richie Myler; Adrian Morley, Michael Monaghan, Chris Hill, Trent Waterhouse, Ben Westwood, Simon Grix. Subs: Paul Wood, Mike Cooper, Matty Blythe, Brad Dwyer.
Wakefield: Richard Mathers; Peter Fox, Danny Kirmond, Vince Mellars, Ben Cockayne; Isaac John, Tim Smith; Andy Raleigh, Paul Aiton, Kyle Amor, Steve Southern, Ali Lauititi, Danny Washbrook. Subs: Kyle Wood, Paul Johnson, Oliver Wilkes, Lucas Walshaw.
