Wolves pushed all the way by Bulls

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WARRINGTON Wolves made hard work of their 28-40 victory at Bradford Bulls with Coach Tony Smith bitterly disappointed by the number of points his team leaked.
Smith admitted an under strength Bradford had performed better than Warrington in many aspects of the game.
“We can score but we let far too many points in. We will learn from this performance and hopefully be better next week,” said Smith, who saw his side win for the 5th consecutive game for the first time this season.
Just like in the recent Challenge Cup quarter-final victory Warrington raced into an early lead, only to be pegged back by Bradford.
Full-back Chris Riley opened the scoring after 8 minutes with his 50th try for the club and his 17th of the season as he went in at the corner from a Lee Briers pass. Briers was wide with the difficult conversion attempt.
Warrington had an early warning that Bradford were up for the game as Kearney just failed to touch down a kick through.
The Wolves hit back as Matt King squoze in at the corner after good work by Ryan Atkins and then Briers landed a superb conversion to make it 0-10. Warrington could have opned up a sixteen point gap had Riley managed to gather a chip kick but he fumbled with the line at his mercy.
The Wolves became their own worst enemies and were punished when Heath Lestrange touched down after Paul Wood knocked on, quickly followed by Briers being penalised for a high tackle. Mat King and Riley clashed going for the same ball allowing Lestrange to score as Sykes added the extras.
Warrington were boosted by the return on Garreth Carvell from the broken leg he suffered at Hull KR in April but his comeback was soured as the Bulls levelled the scores as Chris Nero forced his way over to make it 10-10. Sykes was wide with the conversion.
Substitute David Solomona made an instant impact against his former club as he came off the bench to off-load to Briers, who linked up with Bridge, taking a return pass to touch down. Briers added the extras to his own try.
Two minutes from the break Mickey Higham burrowed his way over from close range after Carvell had been held just short and Briers added the extras to put Warrington in control 10-22 at the break.
But within three minutes of the re-start Bradford hit back as a chip kick bounced cruelly for Riley allowing Steve Menzies to race over. Sykes goaled to make it 16-22.
Then on 49 minutes the Bulls drew level as a Sykes’ break saw Dave Haley race under the sticks. Sykes added the extras to make it all square at 22-22.
To their credit Warrington hit back as a super cross field kick from Briers saw Riley race between two defenders to dive under the sticks for a great try, converted by Briers.
Two minutes later Warrington looked to be back in control as Michael Monaghan slipped a nice pass to Grix who hit the ball with pace to race clear, sending the supporting Atkins over for a well worked try. Briers added the extras and Warrington, despite some shaky moments, looked in control at 22-34.
But back came Bradford as Brett Kearney shot through a gap on 61 minutes to give the home side some hope as Sykes added the extras to make it 28-34.
Warrington soaked up a lot of pressure and only made the game safe on 72 minutes when Higham burrowed over for his second try from close range after Monaghan had been held just short. Briers slotted over the extras to complete the scoring at 28-40.
Head Coach Smith knows his team will have to do a lot better next week if they are to keep up their winning sequence when last year’s Grand Final winners, his former club Leeds, are in town next Sunday.

Wolves: Riley, Hicks, Bridge, Atkins, King, Grix, Briers, Morley, Monaghan, Wood, Westwood, Louis Anderson, Harrison. Subs: Cooper, Higham, Solomona, Carvell.

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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.

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