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Paul Vaughan
Paul Vaughan -Picture Eddie Whitham

Wolves fightback to maintain perfect start

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By on  Wolves News

Pictures Eddie Whitham
WARRINGTON Wolves overturned a 14-point half-time deficit to maintain their 100% start to the season with a 36-20 win over Salford Red Devils.

The Wolves scored five unanswered second half tries, two of which were awarded as eight-point tries, to come back from 20-6 down.

While the win wasn’t as fluid as the previous two, it will arguably give Daryl Powell the most encouragement as the Wolves showed a resolve to come from behind that was often missing in a disappointing 2022.

They built some early pressure tro take the lead inside eight minutes. Josh Drinkwater’s neat kick forced a drop out, and from the repeat set, Ben Currie got on the end of George Williams’ short kick in-goal.

But Salford were certainly up for battle and levelled the scores courtesy of one of Warrington’s own. Back-rower Ellis Longstaff, making his Red Devils debut on loan from the Wolves, touched down against his parent club to make it 6-6.

A sensational pick-up by Ken Sio as he intercepted Williams’ pass close to the line turned the game on its head, with the winger finding Ryan Brierley on his inside to go the full length of the pitch.

Warrington wobbled and conceded a second score shortly after when Marc Sneyd waltzed through a gap in the defence from close range, and Sneyd added a penalty to stretch the lead to 20-6 and have the home fans fearful of a repeat of some of last season’s poor showings.

But Powell’s side re-grouped at the break and within three minutes of the restart, were firmly back in the match thanks to Matty Ashton’s acrobatic finish in the left corner.

Ashton was held up shortly after as Salford’s defence withstood a lot of early pressure in the second half.

Two key moments came in the middle of the half, with Sneyd missing a relatively routine penalty shot at goal in an attempt to stretch their lead to 12, before Brierley was sinbinned for persistent fouling.

Warrington wasted no time in making the most of their numerical advantage, with Tom Mikaele crashing over under the posts on the hour mark.

The Wolves should have gone back-to-back when Daryl Clark burst through on the right hand side and passed inside to Matt Dufty, who coughed the ball up with 30 clear metres to the line.

They weren’t to be denied though as the pressure continued to tell on Salford, Williams’ pinpoint kick to the right caught and touched down by Josh Thewlis, who was caught by the knees of Tyler Dupree in the act of scoring which prompted the award of a rare eight-point try.

Stefan Ratchford missed a relatively simple conversion but added the gifted two points from under the posts to put the Wolves back in front at 22-20.

It was a lead they wouldn’t surrender, and the excellent Williams created breathing space with a fine solo score after another Salford error had gifted the hosts field position.

Dufty did get his try late on, and it went up as another eight-point try, with Kallum Watkins having caught him high as he dived over the line. Ratchford made no mistake with both extras this time to seal the win.

Warrington: Dufty, Thewlis, Minikin, Ratchford, Ashton, Williams, Drinkwater, Mikaele, Clark, Vaughan, Currie, Mata’utia, Harrison. Subs: Kasiano, Walker, Bullock, Whitehead.

Tries: Currie, Ashton, Mikaele, Thewlis, Williams, Dufty. Goals: Ratchford 6.

Salford: Brierley, Sio, Cross, Lafai, Burgess, Croft, Sneyd, Ormondroyd, Ackers, Dupree, Watkins, Longstaff, Partington. Subs: Sidlow, Vuniyayawa, Atkin, Wright.

Tries: Longstaff, Brierley, Sneyd. Goals: Sneyd 4.


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Journalist and sport content specialist, who is also editor of Love Rugby League. Formerly ran the official website of the Carling Cup, as well as operating a digital services business in Warrington.

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