WARRINGTON may be at Wembley but their top eight hopes still hang in the balance as Wigan gained sweet revenge for last Saturday’s Challenge Cup semi-final defeat with a convincing 36-16 victory.
Missing nine first team regulars the Wolves also lost influential playmaker Lee Briers at half time with a facial injury.
It was Warrington who took the lead after soaking up intense Wigan pressure as a smart kick from Briers set up Chris Bridge on 11 minutes to touchdown. But Bridge’s conversion struck an upright.
With both teams making unforced errors the home side levelled on 18 minutes through Pat Richards, who was wide with the conversion attempt.
Warrington had a good opportunity to regain the initiative after a great 40-20 kick from Michael Monaghan, the first for the Wolves this season. But from the resulting scrum Matty Blythe knocked on at the first tackle which became the story of Warrington’s night.
Wigan didn’t need a second invitation and took control of the game after a chip kick from skipper Sean O’Loughlin was re-gathered by Amos Roberts who outpaced the Warrington defence to score with ease on 24 minutes. Richards made no mistake this time making it 10-4 to Wigan.
Five minutes later Wigan were in control as Cameron Phelps backed up a great break by Sam Tomkins to score, with Richards adding the extra to make it 16-4.
Two minutes later it was clearly not going to be Warrington’s night as James Leuleui skipped through some woeful tackling to touchdown with Richards’ goal making it 22-4 at the break.
Warrington needed to score first after the interval if they were going to make a contest of it but it was old boy Martin Gleeson who ripped through his former team mates on 44 minutes to score. Richards was wide with the conversion but at 26-4 and the Wolves in disarray the game was over as a contest.
Three minutes later George Carmont finished off another sweeping move with Richards adding the extras to make it 32-4.
To be fair Warrington didn’t throw in the towel and were unlucky to have a try ruled out by the video referee after Monaghan kicked through for Riley to hack the ball on, regather and touchdown. But he was ruled to have fouled Wigan’s Amos Roberts and the score was rubbed out.
Wigan responded moments later as Mark Flanagan off-loaded for Carmont to score his second of the night. Richards failed to convert making it 36-4.
Warrington showed some battling spirit as Monaghan again found touch with another superb 40-20 kick and from the resulting scrum Vinnie Anderson found a huge gap in the Wigan defence. Bridge added the conversion to make it 36-10.
Seven minutes from time Warrington completed the scoring as Louis Anderson fired out a super pass to winger Riley to touchdown in the corner, with Bridge landing a superb touchline conversion to make it 36-16.
The travelling Warrington fans seemed little troubled by the defeat as they performed the conga behind the goals and rehearsed their Wembley anthems – but with games running out and Wembley on their mind, a top eight finish is still a long way from being a formality.
The injured Briers is awaiting the results of an x-ray on his facial injury after complaining of numbness and now next Friday’s home clash with Wakefield has become a must win game for Tony Smith’s men, if they want to keep their top eight hopes alive.
Pictures show Vinnie Anderson on the charge, Lee Briers and Ben Westwood and try scorer Chris Riley.
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Wolves: Richard Mathers, Chris Riley, Paul Johnson, Chris Bridge, Kevin Penny, Lee Briers, Vinnie Anderson, Adrian Morley, Michael Monaghan, Mike Cooper, Lee Mitchell, Ben Westwood Louis Anderson.
Subs: Steve Pickersgill, Paul Rauhihi, Matty Blythe, Tyrone McCarthy.
Atten: 13,452
