Saints show spirit

SAINTS had to settle for a draw in probably their last game at Wilderspool - but given the circumstances of the difficult past week it can possibly be classed as a point won rather than one dropped.

Trailing 24-10 two minutes into the second half, Saints looked set to 'lose' their sixth league point of the week which would have put an even bigger dent into their hopes of retaining the title.

Although Saints may be going through a lousy patch, there is still that degree of mental toughness which allowed them to pull it back in a blistering three try, seven minute purple patch.

That took real character and the large travelling army who have stuck by the club during this lean spell helped the players raise their game in one of the most hostile playing environments on the Super League circuit.

Some of the football on display was, to quote coach Ian Millward "a bit scratchy", but this was a cracking south Lancashire derby, packed with action, incident and controversy.

With obvious reference to the week's salary cap events, the wag in charge of the PA system played Shirley Bassey's 'Hey, Big Spender' as Saints entered the pitch.

Big spenders Saints may or may not have been, but for large parts of the first half they looked more like 'bargain basement' material as they were rocked back on their heels by some aggressively dogged Warrington tackling which forced them into a string of lost balls and panic passing.

Wolves stormed into an early lead after four minutes when Tony Stewart was rattled by a Lee Briers tackle as he tried to take an unusually poor Paul Sculthorpe pass. Australian centre Brent Grose to pick up the loose ball to scuttle over the line.

Briers had a cracking game - combining some long, punishing, line clearing kicks with a full display of chips and grubbers to build pressure at the other end.

Strong running second rower Mike Bennett posted an early reply for Saints on 12 minutes, but while Sculthorpe was taking the conversion the game's first big talking point occurred.

Scrum half Sean Long was summoned to the touchline and fitted with Academy coach Dave Lyon's headphones while he took instruction from coach Millward in the stand. The home fans were in uproar and afterwards Warrington coach Paul Cullen accused Saints of "blatant cheating."

Oh for the days when Alex Murphy used to yell his instructions directly from the dug out!

Warrington restored their six point lead when Briers' grubber bamboozled the Saints defence and was collected by Grose, who touched down for his second try of the afternoon.

Keiron Cunningham, slowly finding his feet after his long lay off, then sent Sculthorpe waltzing over for an unconverted try.

But Saints were finding it difficult to get any momentum going and were not helped by some schoolboy errors, which put pressure on themselves. And the fired up Wolves, determined to expunge the memory of the Easter Monday slaughter, sensed the champions were ripe for the taking and hooker John Clarke cashed in on some feeble Saints tackling to go over.

A Briers 40/20 gave Wolves the perfect platform to start the second half and Jerome Guissett duly came up with the inevitable score to leave Saints staring into the abyss.

At this stage all the sensible money was on the gutsy Wires clinching only their second ever Super League era win over Saints. But then the champions clicked into gear particularly when Chris Joynt began ploughing his favoured left hand channel after spending the opening half propping.

First Mick Higham put Sculthorpe in. And then Joynt went on the charge, his pass sending Ade Gardner flying in at the corner.

Long and Gardner then worked a one-two for the scrum half to streak in, Sculthorpe's goal nudging them ahead 26-24.

And then Long, Cunningham and Joynt combined to send Newlove over for another score.

The balance had tipped Saints' way - but then a heavy Nick Fozzard tackle on John Stankevitch saw a six minute delay while the pack man was stretchered off.

The break affected Saints' momentum and within two minutes of the restart Lee Penny went through some quite ordinary defence to score - Briers levelling things up with the conversion to set up a nerve-wracking finale.

Saints had the best chance to grab a winner when Sculthorpe motored up the right flank to bust a gaping hole in the Wire defence.

With Long and Darren Smith in support it should have been Goodnight Vienna. But Long's wayward pass to the supporting Aussie loose forward hit the deck and their last real chance went begging.

Briers had the final chance to grab the victory with a 53 metre stab at a drop goal that was a only few yards wide of the mark.

It is a good job - I don't think the creaking old stadium could have coped with the eruption that would have followed.

How they lined up

Warrington: Penny; Appo, Grose, Sibbit, Smyth; Briers, Wood; Fozzard, Clarke, Hilton, Burns, Wainwright, Domic. Subs: Noone, Gleeson, Guisset, Stevens.

Saints: Stewart; Albert, Gleeson, Newlove, Gardner; Sculthorpe, Long; Britt, Cunningham, Joynt, Bennett, Stankevitch, Smith. Subs: Wellens, Higham, Ward, Jones.

Ref: R. Silverwood (Mirfield)

Attendance: 8590