Pictures Eddie Whitham
WARRINGTON Wolves were brought back down to earth with a bump as they lost 18-8 at Wakefield.
After their 19-0 win over champions St Helens last week had fans purring, they couldn’t end their wait for successive wins which dates back to early June.
Marquee signing Gareth Widdop made his Wolves debut with Matty Ashton, impressive against Wigan and St Helens, perhaps unfortunate to make way, while there was no Anthony Gelling, suspended pending investigation to his off-field conduct.
A miserable first half under the interest of Storm Dennis, it took 38 minutes for any score – a Stefan Ratchford penalty after Wakefield had kicked a restart out on the full.
That 2-0 lead lasted just four second half minutes, Ryan Hampshire levelling things up with a penalty of his own, and he added a second five minutes later to give Trinity the lead.
It was still try-less on the hour, though a third Hampshire penalty had made it 6-2 to the hosts.
Finally the whitewash was broken on 61 minutes as Ratchford crossed for the first try, and his conversion gave the Wolves the lead.
But two tries in three minutes late on gave Wakefield the win, the first when Matty Ashurst crossed on 72 minutes and then a Tom Johnstone interception put the game to bed.
Wakefield: Johnstone, Tupou, Lyne, Miller, K Wood, Ashurst, Westerman, Pitts, Kopczak, Arundel, Jowitt, Hampshire, Tanginoa. Subs: Batchelor, Tangata, J Wood, Navarette.
Warrington: Ratchford, Lineham, King, Charnley, Austin, Widdop, D Clark, Cooper, Currie, Murdoch-Masila, J Clark, Philbin, Mamo. Subs: Akauola, Davis, Walker, Burrell.
