Vaughan in disbelief at red card in Wolves defeat to Leigh

TWELVE-MAN Warrington Wolves went down to a 16-12 defeat at Leigh Leopards following a controversial early red card.

Talismanic forward Paul Vaughan was sent off by referee Liam Moore after just 11 minutes for contact to the head in a decision that left the Australian perplexed as he was given his marching orders.

Warrington Wolves were already behind at that point, John Bateman’s error being pounced upon by Lachlan Lam to set up an early try for Ricky Leutele.

Matt Moylan converted a penalty goal to make it 6-0 shortly after Vaughan’s dismissal.

Moylan was then guilty of bombing a golden opportunity to extend the Leopards’ lead, snapping up the ball via a Josh Thewlis error but neglecting to give Josh Charnley a walk in at the corner and instead losing the ball in the subsequent tackle.

After being on the back foot for much of the first half, Warrington made the most of a good attacking platform to level things up. George Williams’ long pass caught Leigh’s right edge defence out and Matty Ashton went over.

Leigh finally got the second try that their long spells of pressure had threatened six minutes into the second half when Frankie Halton took on a short pass and crashed over.

Perhaps the decisive moment came on 54 minutes when a bit of magic by Lam set up ex-Wolves winger Charnley for a try that moved him to within two tries of moving up to second in the Super League all-time try scorer list.

Another former Wire player handed the visitors a lifeline a few minutes later – Jack Hughes sin-binned for a dangerous tackle on Joe Philbin, but Warrington could make the most of their numerical parity.

A superb tackle by Moylan denied Ashton in the corner and by the time Warrington Wolves did get over through Sam Powell, there was too little time left for them to turn things around.

The win boosts Leigh’s play-off hopes and means Warrington lose ground on the top two.

Leigh: Moylan, McIntosh, Hanley, Leutele, Charnley, O’Brien, Lam, Trout, Ipape, Mulhern, O’Donnell, Halton, Amone. Subs: Davis, Hughes, Pene, Hardaker.

Warrington Wolves: Taylor-Wray, Thewlis, Tai, King, Ashton, Williams, Drinkwater, Vaughan, Powell, Yates, Bateman, Fitzgibbon, Currie. Subs: Musgrove, Philbin, Walker, Crowther.