Smith up beat despite defeat

WARRINGTON boss Tony Smith remained upbeat despite seeing his side edged out 29-28 in a thriller at Catalan Dragons in Perpignan tonight.
The bottom of the league French outfit turned the form guide on its head to edge out the Wolves currently sat second in the table and provided the Dragons with a welcome psychological boost ahead of their Challenge Cup semi-final with Warrington in two weeks.
Although disappointed with the defeat Smith remind upbeat saying the Wolves had shown “great desire” to battle back into the game on two occasions.
From the kick off the hosts dominated asFrederic Vaccari pounced on Thomas Bosc’s clever kick in the 5th minute. Bosc converted the try to give the hosts a solid start.
Warrington were back on terms courtesy of a breathtaking 70-metre dash by Chris Hicks as the winger outpaced the spread-eagled home defence after the ball appeared to be knocked down in the tackle by a Warrington hand. Ben Westwood added the extras.
But Catalans restored their lead when Dane Carlaw finished well following a superb pass by half-back Brent Sherwin – Bosc was again successful with his conversion attempt.
The home side extended their lead just five minutes later when a try mirroring the earlier effort by Vaccari saw Sherwin put in a kick for Steven Bell to
touch down just before the in-goal line, although Bosc this time failed with his attempt from the touchline.
Ten points down, Warrington rallied to haul themselves level by the break as first Hicks scooted home after a long pass out wide from Richie Mathers.
Westwood converted and they were level moments later when Jon Clarke went through a big hole in the Catalans defence after a superb ball by Lee Briers.
But it was the Dragons who made much the better start after interval, Cyril Stacul opened the scoring when a Dallas Johnson delayed pass found the stand-in full-back lurking at the back of the ruck – Bosc converted the try to give the Dragons another six point lead.
They doubled that advantage four minutes later after Chris Riley gifted possession to the Dragons, Bosc eventually slipping inside to Remi Casty who rampaged over from close range.
Warrington regrouped and cut the deficit as David Solomona’s brillaint off-load allowed Vinnie Anderson an easy opportunity out wide on the left –
Westwood slotting the subsequent conversion to narrow the Catalans’ lead to six points.
But Sherwin was then to add what would prove a crucial drop-goal with 17 minutes remaining to give his side a little breathing space.
They were to need it as Briers side-stepped his way to the Dragons’ line four minutes from time with Westwood’s conversion getting them back within a point. But the hosts held firm to secure a welcome victory and will now head into their Cup semi-final in high spirits.
Warrington coach Tony Smith remained upbeat despite a defeat that saw them lose further ground to leaders Wigan.
“We started a bit flat today, and I thought our opponents outplayed us today and deserved their win, they showed great desire.
“There was some great desire in my team as well, we showed some great character to fight back on each occasion the Catalans shot out ahead, and to be honest I thought we were quite fortunate when a try was disallowed in the first half and to me it looked like a good try. We were behind the eight ball today
from the start but we’ll go away and lick our wounds and come back stronger for it.”
But Smith did admit to being disappointed with his side’s performance in the first half.
“We had a good five minutes going into half-time but the first 35 minutes weren’t terribly great for us.
“We got an opportunity to put on some points going into half-time but we didn’t build on that, and that was disappointing. In the second half we lifted ourselves at times, but in the end we left ourselves just too much to do.
“There were some area’s that we became frustrated with, and we will have to go and fix those up and try and put in a performance next week.”