WARRINGTON Wolves and their fans will be glad to see the back of Knowsley Road after failing to end their St Helens hoodoo going down 28-18 in a pulsating derby.
The Wolves matched Saints with four tries apiece but were booted into touch by Kyle Eastmond’s six goals from as many attempts.
Bidding to go top of the league while at the same time ending their Knowsley Road Super League hoodoo in front of a capacity 17,500 crowd, the Wolves staged a terrific second half-fightback as they scored three tries in seven minutes giving hope to their huge travelling army of fans.
But they fell short in the end, meaning they have still not managed a Super League win
at the current home of their rivals and now never will, as Saints are due to move to a new stadium next season.
It was Eastmond’s kicking in the end that proved the difference, as the scrum-half also showed he was just as dangerous with ball in hand inside five minutes, as he produced some electrifying footwork to cut through the Warrington defence and break the deadlock with a stunning solo try.
From then on defences dominated in the opening half with the game becoming a physical battle in pouring rain.
Warrington did eventually find a way through on the half-hour when Simon Grix,
filling in for the injured Lee Briers, side-stepped his way to the line.
Saints responded with a try from Jon Wilkin, though the forward was somewhat fortunate to get on the end of his own grubber kick as the ball deflected off the legs of Chris Riley.
Despite the loss of full-back Paul Wellens, who was still suferring the effects of a crunching two man tackle, Saints came out all guns blazing after the break to move well clear.
Eastmond, who took over from the injured Wellens at the back, capitalised on Richie Mathers’ inability to deal with his up-and-under to set up Ade Gardner for an easy try out wide.
The touchline conversion from the scrum-half was followed up by a penalty and with a 16-point lead, St Helens seemed in complete control.
But Warrington staged a thrilling fightback as Matt King raised hopes of a comeback
with his seventh try of 2010 before Ben Harrison capitalised on Gardner’s failure to deal with Michael Monaghan’s kick.
Chris Hicks then worked his way over in the corner but the inability of Chris Bridge to add more than the one conversion meant the Wolves still trailed.
Saints gave themselves some breathing space with Gardner’s second of the night, quick hands from Tony Puletua and Matt Gidley setting up the winger.
Eastmond landed the conversion from out wide and then sealed the result in the final minute with a penalty, taking his personal haul to 16 points.
After the game Warrington boss Tony Smith said:”I thought we dominated many facets of the game but I was very pleased with the efforts of my players.
“The players are all pretty disappointed but, if we put that sort of effort in every week, we’ll be at the pointy end of the competition.”
Despite defeat Warrington remained 2nd in the table on points difference from Saints.
St Helens: Wellens, Gardner, Gidley, Dean, Meli, Pryce, Eastmond, Graham, Cunningham, Puletua, Flannery, Soliola, Wilkin.
Replacements: Roby, Hargreaves, Clough, Fa’asavalu.
Warrington Wolves: Mathers, Hicks, King, Atkins, Riley, Grix, Myler, Morley, Monaghan, Carvell, L Anderson, Westwood, Harrison.
Replacements: Bridge, Higham, Wood, Solomona.
Referee: Richard Silverwood (Dewsbury).
Atten 17,500
