Wolves dig deep for victory

WARRINGTON Wolves over turned a 14-6 half-time deficit as they “dug deep” to record a 16-18 victory at Hull which saw them climb to 10th in the table.
Despite fielding an under-strength side Hull appeared in control during the first half, scoring two tries through Richard Whiting and Jodie Broughton.
Warrington had to make some late changes with Matt King and leading points scorer Chris Hicks joining Paul Johnson on the sidelines.
Despite being guilty of many handling errors in the opening period, Warrington -started to make their possession pay in the second period as Simon Grix followed up a first-half try, while scores from Chris Bridge and – on his 100th Super League appearance – Vinnie Anderson allowed the Wolves to come back and scrape the points.
They made an ill-disciplined start to the match and conceded three penalties in the opening four minutes, with Garreth Carvell sin-binned against his former club.
By the time Carvell returned to the fray the Airlie Birds were 12-0 ahead.
The first try came in the 12th minute and resulted from Michael Monaghan’s intercepted pass.
Whiting booted the ball to the right wing where Mark Calderwood’s footballing skills progressed the move – the second rower then diving over the line to touch down.
Tickle kicked the extras and did the same two minutes later after he had proved the inspiration for Hull’s second, his pass releasing Broughton on the left-hand flank and leaving the Wolves’ defence in his wake.
The Wolves appeared listless up until Anderson offloaded to Grix who then ducked inside to touch down.
Bridge converted but there was to be no quickfire repeat score for the visitors, Tickle instead pushing Hull’s lead back out to 14-6 with a long-range penalty just past the half-hour.
Tickle found the target once again with another such effort coming as heavy rain fell six minutes into the second half.
Warrington had opportunities to score during this period but poor handling and communication meant they were unable to take them until Bridge finally scored the Wolves’ second after 61 minutes as they exploited an overlap on the right-hand flank.
He could not add the extras but Warrington were now just a converted try behind.
Bridge again missed after Grix scored his second just four minutes later but, although still behind, the match’s momentum was now with Warrington.
Sure enough, the Wolves turned their two-point deficit into a two-point lead when Vinnie
Anderson scored their 4th try with eight minutes remaining – but Bridge missed the
conversion once again. But Warrington dug deep and defended strongly and hung on for the points.
After the match Warrington coach Tony Smith said his players should be proud of their second-half performance.
“We were poor in the first half,” said Smith. “We were really disappointed with the way we performed. It was the first wet game we’ve had to deal with for a while and we didn’t handle the weather well.
“We couldn’t get hold of the ball and it seemed like we were just defending and defending – and with 12 men.
“I don’t know what the record is for early sin-bins but it would be up there I reckon.
“But the players should be very proud of themselves for the way they pulled themselves together in the second half and dug out a game of rugby league.
“To only allow the opposition only two sets in a half is pretty good going.”
He also singled out Bridge and Richard Mathers for praise.
“We lost three wingers this week but the boys who stepped up did a really good job,” he said.