WARRINGTON Wolves kept their league title hopes alive with a “scrappy” 26-14 victory over Wakefield Wildcats to leapfrog Wigan Warriors and move within a point of Super League leaders Huddersfield Giants.
Although the Wolves scored six tries Head of Coaching Tony Smith was not impreswed with his team’s perofrmance.
“We were a bit scrappy, and although we produced glimpses of nice stuff it not enough for our liking.
“We defended pretty well and conceded an intercept and a try off a kick, which we can live with.
“But we were scrappy with the ball and scrappy with some loose play. I’m not jumping up and down though, because we had to try some new combinations.”
“There were not too many stand outs today and not many players punching the air with their performances.
“We weren’t quite at our best but hopefully we can finish the season strong,” added Smith
Winger Joel Monaghan bagged a brace along with scores from Brett Hodgson, Micky Higham, Chris Bridge and Chris Riley.
In a see-saw first half The Wildcats only trailed 14-8 at half-time.
The Wolves made a bright start with Joel Monaghan taking only nine minutes to bag his 25th try of the season after a pass from Bridge.
But Wakefield, who had lost their last seven matches against Warrington, drew level when Frankie Mariano did well to collect Tim Smith’s high kick under pressure and touch down in the corner.
Smith then intercepted a Mickey Higham pass to put the Wildcats on the offensive in the build-up to Mariano’s try.
Higham was at the heart of most of Warrington’s attacks and the Wolves regained the lead midway through the first half when Hodgson linked up from full back to dummy his way over.
But the visitors were back on level terms after 28 minutes when Tim Smith and Lee Smith combined for skipper Danny Kirmond to power through two tackles.
Warrington regained the lead when Higham pounced to score under the posts, with Ratchford landing his first conversion at the third attempt to leave Wolves 14-8 ahead at the break.
The Wolves gave themselves breathing space with smart handling from Michael Monaghan, Ben Westwood and Bridge putting Joel Monaghan over for his second try to make it 18-8.
Brett Hodgson then put Westwood in the clear for Bridge to stroll over and, although the latter took over the goalkicking, he had no more success than Ratchford with the conversion.
A loose Trent Waterhouse pass was then intercepted by Kay who raced 70 metres for a try, with Lee Smith’s conversion giving the Wildcats a sniff of a shock victory but Chris Riley’s touchdown after 66 minutes secured the win for Warrington.
Next up is Widnes on Thursday, kick off 8pm when Warrington have the chance of topping the table with Huddersfiled travelling to London at the weekend.
Wolves:
1.Brett Hodgson 2. Chris Riley 3.Chris Bridge 15.Simon Grix 5.Joel Monaghan 19.Stefan Ratchford 9.Michael Monaghan 16.Paul Wood 14.Micky Higham 18.Chris Hill
12.Ben Westwood 26.James Laithwaite 21.Tyrone McCarthy
Substitutes
11. Trent Waterhouse 13. Ben Harrison 24.Ben Currie 25.Brad Dwyer
Wildcats:
1. Richard Mathers 28.Liam Kay 20.Reece Lyne 17.Frankie Mariano 5.Ben Cockayne 4.Lee Smith 7.Tim Smith 10.Andy Raleigh 9.Paul Aiton 15. Kyle Amor
11. Ali Lauitiiti 12. Danny Kirmond 18. Kyle Trout
Substitutes
13. Danny Washbrook 16. Oliver Wilkes 26.Bobbie Goulding 32.Taulima Tautai 
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