Wirral 2nd 20 Warrington 2nd 23

AFTER sacrificing a 17-0 lead, Warrington managed to hang on and win a flowing game against Wirral with a late penalty from Shaun McDermott.

Warrington were first on the scoreboard when veteran Kevin Jones used his power and guile to crash over in the corner.

A superb touchline conversion from McDermott gave the home side a seven-point lead.

Warrington then defended several Wirral attacks before going through the phases and providing the space for Craig Byrne to barrel over near the posts.

McDermott’s conversion saw Warrington go into a 14-0 lead.

This was soon increased to 17-0 with a McDermott penalty but Wirral cut the deficit shortly before half time when their pacey backs scored in the corner and the try was converted.

Ten minutes into the second period, Warrington increased their lead with a second McDermott penalty but Wirral soon replied with a penalty of their own.

The visitors then cut their deficit with a an unconverted try from a driving maul and the scores were equalized when the Wirral backs took advantage of a knock-on by Kevin Jones on the Warrington try line to race 70 yards and score in the corner.

The trusty boot of McDermott came to the rescue to break the deadlock with a well-struck penalty in the closing five minutes.

“This was a close run thing in a very tight match,” said coach Paul Thompson.

“Fortunately, the lads never lost faith, spurred on by a man-of-the-match performance from scrum half Jack Hannon and our two new recruits from Lymm.”

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