A LAST minute drop goal denied Warrington Wolves victory after they had fought from behind against Huddersfield Giants at the Halliwell Jones Stadium.
Tony Smith’s men trailed 23-6 early in the second half, but a brace of tries from Ben Harrison and a Ryan Atkins score edged them 24-23 in front.
But as they looked to hold on in the closing stages, a Leroy Cudjoe interception set up field position for Danny Brough to land his second drop goal of the night to lock the scores at 24-24, in a game that gave a taster of what the play-offs may be like in a few weeks.
In the first game of Super League’s dedicated State of Mind round, raising awareness of mental health, Warrington took the lead through Gareth O’Brien, who managed to wriggle out of Eorl Crabtree’s grasp to score after a period of sustained pressure by the home side.
But Huddersfield claimed control of the game by half time. Brough’s precise grubber kick was fumbled by Michael Monaghan enabling Chris Bailey to touch down under the posts, and Ukuma Ta’ai added a second try shortly after.
Hooker Shaun Lunt made it three tries in eight minutes on the half hour mark, taking three men over the line with him before putting the ball down, and three Brough conversions had the Giants out to 18-6.
Brough added a drop goal to make it a three score game at the break, and four minutes in to the second half, the Giants had their fourth try, Jodie Broughton racing away from 60 metres following a Brough offload, although the Scotland international half back uncharacteristically missed a relatively simple conversion that would prove costly.
The Wolves look dead and buried, until Atkins got on the end of O’Brien’s grubber kick to give them hope shortly before the hour.
Harrison then crashed over for two tries inside five minutes to complete a fine turnaround, with O’Brien’s conversions edging the hosts in front.
It was looking like two points lost for Huddersfield, until on the last tackle, Cudjoe stole a march on Michael Monaghan at the play the ball and managed to intercept his pass from dummy half, setting up the Giants with field position.
They briefly probed but couldn’t find a way through, and Brough settled for the one-pointer that enabled the Giants to leave with a point to go towards their Super League total.
The result pushes both sides above Challenge Cup winners Leeds, who play table-toppers St Helens in front of the Sky cameras on Friday night.
Warrington: Russell, Ormsby, J Monaghan, Atkins, R Evans, O’Brien, Myler, Hill, M Monaghan, Harrison, Waterhouse, Westwood, Grix. Interchanges: Higham, Wood, England, Laithwaite.
Huddersfield: Grix, McGillvary, Cudjoe, Murphy, Broughton, Brough, Robinson, Crabtree, Lunt, Kaufusi, Patrick, Lawrence, Bailey. Interchanges: Fairbank, Kopczak, Faiumu, Ta’ai.
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Late drop goal denies Wolves
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About Author
Gary Skentelbery
Experienced journalist for more than 40 years. Managing Director of magazine publishing group with three in-house titles and on-line daily newspaper for Warrington. Experienced writer, photographer, PR consultant and media expert having written for local, regional and national newspapers. Specialties: PR, media, social networking, photographer, networking, advertising, sales, media crisis management. Chair of Warrington Healthwatch Director Warrington Chamber of Commerce Patron Tim Parry Johnathan Ball Foundation for Peace. Trustee Warrington Disability Partnership. Former Chairman of Warrington Town FC.
