WARRINGTON Wolves moved within 80 minutes of a third successive trip to Wembley with a 24-10 win over Leigh in the Challenge Cup quarter-finals.
The Wolves fought from behind and survived a 10-minute period in the second half down to 12 men to pull clear in the final stages and win against the Leopards for the second week running.
Former Warrington man Gareth O’Brien, playing at full-back for Leigh, allowed an early Marc Sneyd kick from inside his own half to bounce and Warrington moved it right for Albert Hopoate to score in the corner, only for the video referee to rule the Wolves chase to the initial kick was offside.
It was Leigh that opened the scoring, Innes Senior scoring in the left corner on 14 minutes.
It only took five minutes for Warrington to restore parity, an offload close to the line by Ben Currie, who signed a new contract extension in the week, found Danny Walker to hurdle a couple of would be tacklers on the floor and plonk the ball beyond the whitewash.
The scoreline remained 6-6 at half time and a tight battle fought inn the middle continued in to the second half.
A failed captain’s challenge by Warrington saw Leigh earn a penalty after Matty Ashton had the ball stripped from his grasp one-on-one, but Adam Cook failed to put the visitors ahead as he struck the post from 40 metres.
Then came a moment that looked to have given Leigh the edge, as Josh Thewlis was sinbinned after knocking the ball away after a Warrington kick ran dead, preventing their opponents from retrieving it for a quick 20 metre tap.
And almost immediately, Leigh made the extra man pay as a suspiciously flat Edwin Ipape pass sent Lachlan Lam racing away.
But O’Brien missed a relatively straight forward conversion and then from the kick-off, ex-Wire man Robbie Mulhern knocked on and Leigh’s grip loosened.
Just before Thewlis returned, Warrington had retaken the lead. A penalty for a high tackle on Ashton gave them field position, and Toby King finished well in the left centre, Sneyd converting for 12-10 on 65 minutes.
Warrington didn’t look back from there, and after a spell of pressure, Currie touched down for the first of his two tries off Sneyd’s kick through close to the posts, enabling Sneyd to make it a two-score game at 18-10.
Leigh failed to retrieve a short kick-off, and then later, a short drop-out was knocked straight in to the hands of Currie who found his way to the line from close range with four minutes to play to end the contest.
Sneyd converted a penalty on the hooter to complete the win for Warrington, who join St Helens and Hull KR in the Challenge Cup semi-finals.
Warrington: Taylor-Wray, Ashton, King, Hopoate, Thewlis, Williams, Sneyd, Yates, Walker, Byrne, Stone, Bentley, Currie. Subs: Harrison, Powell, Philbin, Tanginoa.
Leigh: O’Brien, Senior, Niu, Hanley, Charnley, Cook, Lam, Ofahengaue, Ipape, Mulhern, Trout, Hughes, Liu. Subs: Brogan, David, Alick-Wiencke, McNamara.
