TOM Lineham scored a hat-trick of tries as Warrington Wolves beat Wakefield Trinity 34-24 to record their fourth win of the season.
With new signing Josh Charnley sat on the sidelines, Lineham provided coach Steve Price with a timely reminder of his ability, scoring two tries before the break and then completing his treble in the second half.
The Wolves didn’t have it all their own way and trailed 14-12 at half time.
They took on early lead through Lineham’s first try off a looping Ratchford pass on three minutes, and after Reece Lyne had levelled things at 4-4, Lineham’s second on 13 minutes again off a Ratchford pass nudged the Wolves in front.
Shortly past the quarter mark, Bryson Goodwin put a penalty over for 12-4, but Wakefield turned it around before the interval thanks to tries from Bill Tupou and Liam Finn.
But Warrington had the perfect start to the second half as Goodwin stepped through the defence and raced in from 30 metres within a minute of the restart and the Wolves never looked back.
Mike Cooper pounced on a Toby King grubber kick shortly before the hour, with Ratchford’s conversion making things 24-14.
Ben Murdoch-Masila bulldozed his way over on 62 minutes to virtually put the game beyond doubt and Lineham completed his hat-trick late on either side of tries from Tom Johnstone and Ben Jones-Bishop for the visitors.
Tom Lineham heads for the line Picture Eddie Whitham
The players celebrate Big Ben’s try Picture Eddie Whitham
Goodwin celebrates his try Picture Eddie Whitham
Warrington: Ratchford, Lineham, Goodwin, T King, M Brown, K Brown, Roberts, Hill, Clark, Cooper, Westwood, Hughes, G King. Subs: Philbin, Murdoch-Masila, Akauola, Livett.
Wakefield: Grix, Jones-Bishop, Lyne, Tupou, Johnstone, Miller, Finn, Fifita, Randell, England, Kirmond, Ashurst, Horo. Subs: Hampshire, Pauli, Hirst, Huby.
For a gallery of pictures by Eddie Whitham CLICK HERE
🎬”Things are turning round now and clicking into place. Stick with us and enjoy the ride!”
We caught up with @bennie_westwood following his 400th @SuperLeague appearance tonight pic.twitter.com/fr9IYTY8bw
— Warrington Wolves (@wolvesrl) March 23, 2018
