WARRINGTON Wolves fought back from 0-18 down against arch rivals Widnes
to run out 22-19 victors thanks to a hat-trick of tries from Joel
Monaghan to keep their dream of a third successive Grand Final alive.
Trailing 6-19 at the break Warrington proved the stronger in the second half to pull off a famous victory with the reward a trip to Castleford on Thursday evening.
Widnes opened the scoring after just four minutes through Flynn with Tickle landing a touchline conversion.
Then on eight minutes Flynn went over for his second with Tickle landing another from the touchline to make it 0-12.
When Widnes went over for their third try on 29 minutes through Hanbury and Tickle’s conversion went over off the post to make it 0-18 things looked bleak for the Wolves.
Five minutes before the break Monaghan got over in the corner after good work by Bridge and Ratchford kept his cool to add the extras to make it 6-18.
But then just before the hooter Brown slotted over a drop-goal to make it a three score game again.
It was crucial for the Wolves to score first after the break and it took them just two minutes as Monaghan went over for his second and Ratchford again landed the extras.
More Wolves pressure saw Rhys Evans over in the corner to make it 16-19 as Ratchford’s conversion drifted wide.
Monaghan completed his hat-trick on the hour with Ratchford landing another from the touchline to give the Wolves a lead they were never to surrender in a real nail biting finish.
After the game Wolves’ boss Tony Smith said he was proud of the way his team had fought back in the second half but voiced real concern over full-back Matty Russell, who was stretchered off after a sickening clash with Widnes loose forward Macgraff Leuluai, which was put on report.
Smith said Russell had been unconscious for a long time and went straight off to hospital and at the minimum he was going to lose a few teeth and had a smashed nose.
Widnes skipper and former Wolves’ star Jon Clarke is given a guard of honour on his retirement from the game.
Wolves: Russell, J Monaghan, Bridge, Atkins, R Evans, O’Brien, Myler, Hill, Higham, Harrison, Laithwaite, Waterhouse, Ratchford.
Subs M Monaghan, Asotasi, Currie, England.
Widnes: Hanbury, Flynn, Dean, Phelps, Ah Van, Brown, Mellor, O’Carroll, Clarke, Cahill, Galea, Tickle, Leuluai.
Subs: Isa, Joseph, White, Gerrard.
