WARRINGTON Wolves produced the great escape to extend their unbeaten run to five games with a last gasp 22-20 victory over Wakefield Trinity Wildcats.
Trailing for the whole game and certainly second best in the first half the Wolves clawed their way back to clinch a thrilling victory as Tom Lineham flew in at the corner with just two minutes left on the clock.
The victory saw the Wolves climb to 9th in the league table level on points with 8th placed St Helens but with a daunting trip to Hull to come next Friday.
It was the visitors who dominated much of the first half, taking the lead in the 8th minute as a kick deflected into the arms of Kyle Wood, who kicked on again for Ashley Gibson to score and Liam Finn adding the conversion to make it 0-6.
Just two plays after the kick off Wakefield doubled their lead as Jacob Miller broke to set up Mason Caton Brown to score. Finn again added the extras.
Ryan Atkins thought he had got Warrington up and running on 13 minutes but the video referee ruled that Lineham was off-side from Dec Patton’s kick.
But Atkins was soon celebrating on 22 minutes after a 70m break, fending off the full-back and defenders to score a fantastic try. Patton converted from in front of the sticks and Warrington were back in the game at 6-12.
But it was Wakefield who got back on the front foot and extended their lead on 36 minutes with a Finn penalty for offside.
Just before the break Warrington had another try disallowed as Kevin Brown went over from a Patton kick, but was ruled to have knocked on leaving it 6-14 at the break.
When Wakefield extended their lead with the first try of the second half on 46 minutes as Tom Johnstone got in wide out, with Finn adding the conversion, it looked set to be a disappointing afternoon for the Wolves as they trailed 6-20.
But they gradually started to force their way back into the game with a Captain’s knock try from Chris Hill who kept his legs pumping to get the ball over the line through several Wakefield defenders on 55 minutes. Patton added the extras to make it 12-20.
With the clock ticking down and Wakefield defending well it wasn’t until the 69th minute that the Wolves could get over again as Kevin Brown showed his experience, showing the ball to go over. Patton was again on target making it 18-20 with 10 minutes left on the clock.
Wakefield hit back but knocked on giving vital possession to Warrington who made the visitors pay for their error as a sweeping move saw Stefan Ratchford send a long looping pass out to get Lineham flying in at the corner. There was a nervous moment as the referee went to the big screen but there was no problem with the grounding as most of the 9,152 roarded their approval.
It was certainly a thrilling end to the game as Warrington extended their unbeaten run to five games, with a draw and four wins following six straight defeats at the start of the season.
But they will need to do a lot better if they want to keep the run going at Hull next Friday.
Wolves: Ratchford, Evans, Livett, Atkins, Lineham, Patton, Gidley, Hill, Dwyer, Sims, Jullien, Hughes, Westerman.
Subs: Brown, G King, Philbin, Savelio.
Wakefield: Jowitt, Jones-Bishop, Gibson, Caton-Brown, Johnstone, Miller, Finn, England, Wood, Fifita, Hadley, Kirmon, Arona.
Subs: Williams, Batchelor, Hirst, Huby.
LINEHAM!!!! 🐺@TomLineham completes the comeback in the dying minutes for @wolvesrl pic.twitter.com/EdU5mgaANl
— Betfred Super League (@SuperLeague) April 22, 2017
