TONY Smith enthused over Wolves’ young players, the club’s reserve set-up, and the performance of recalled winger Tom Lineham as he reaffirmed the message that the clinching of the League Leaders’ Shield is only a step en route to the big prize Warrington Wolves are truly chasing.

Wolves, without the services of Kurt Gidley, Chris Sandow, Ben Currie, Ben Westwood and Ryan Bailey, produced a gritty performance to win the table-toppers’ fight with Hull FC at the KCOM Stadium and book themselves a home semi final with St Helens on Thursday in the race to the Grand Final at Old Trafford.

Smith made seven changes, including positional moves, to the side which blew the League Leaders’ Shield shot against Wigan Warriors a week earlier.

Youngsters like scrum half Dec Patton, second rowers Sam Wilde and Toby King plus substitute hooker Morgan Smith revelled in the increased responsibility.

While recalled wingers Tom Lineham performed strongly, despite little first-team game time of late, and scored key tries on an historic night for the club.

For it is only the second time in 21 seasons of Super League that Wolves have proved themselves to be the most consistent team in the competition.

Smith, Wolves’ head of coaching and rugby, said: “We’re very pleased.

“I think some people saw our team and probably wrote us off to some degree.

“We didn’t.

“It hurt us last week. We were a little bit sombre for a couple of days.

“But I said it would do us good and it did.

“It does matter who you put out on the field and the people we put out there did a great job.

“We had one overseas player in the 17 and we’re very proud of that as a club.

“We want good overseas players in our competition but we’re also a club which has invested a lot into developing young British players and it’s taken us a while to get some coming through.

“We had a couple injured too who would have normally been there.

“For those boys to go out there and do such a great job we’re really proud of that. And we’re going to keep on investing in that area as well.

“I thought the boys worked very hard, particularly defensively. They were very good with each other and had to work hard.”

Wolves got more things right than they did the previous week too in terms of closing the game out, fending off a Hull comeback at 10-6 after turning around 10-0 in front thanks to tries from Lineham and Penny.

Patton kept nudging Wire further ahead with penalties before Lineham, after missing out on selection for the last nine games, sealed a remarkable return to the side with the clinching try against his former club.

Smith said: “We managed that game a whole lot better.

“We got tested a few times with a few things. But I thought our game management was much better this week than it has on a few other accounts.

“Having said that, we started the second half with three errors back to back and a couple of penalties against.

“It was not ideal. When the games are as tight as they can be at this time of the year it can make a difference, so we’ve still got some lessons to learn.

“It was a great response by Tommy Lineham. I know he’s probably grabbed a few headlines by being in the team.

“When he wasn’t getting picked, there was no sulking about it. He did something about it and has been working harder every week.

“He’s been coming in early, doing all the right things. He’s responded very well so that when he got his opportunity he’d take it. And he’s taken it tonight.

“He came up with a few enormous plays for us. A couple of chases back that were try-saving tackles and I was really pleased for him to finish off as he did with the try.

“I thought he was terrific, along with other performers.

“I hope to have some selection headaches. We’ve got a few people busted and bruised and we’ll see how we go.”

He highlighted other individual performances too.

“Dec did a good job, and Stef. They both managed the game very well.

“If you’re looking for star players, I thought Chris Hill was outstanding again.

“I don’t want to take away from the nominations for Man of Steel – and they’re good nominations – but how he’s not also in there is beyond me.

“Maybe I’m biased, but if you watch rugby league regularly he does it week in and week out.

“And Daryl Clark was terrific, and big Ash Sims led the way as well in the first half in particular. I’m really proud of all of them.

“I thought Rhys Evans was terrific on the edge. Him and Tommy defended really well.”

He had more to say about Dec Patton’s recent progress, standing in for Chris Sandow since his knee ligament injury sustained in the Challenge Cup Final defeat to Hull FC at Wembley last month.

“There’s a young man who hasn’t had a chance to play a lot of rugby league,” said Smith.

“Only the fact that we’ve got a reserve grade has probably helped him develop.

“He was my great example last year, where he didn’t play any rugby league after June so he didn’t develop as a half back. There’s a young British boy who’s trying to learn how to play half back in rugby league and not getting games. How do you do that?

“So we’ve had to come up with a system where we’ve invested in putting out a reserve grade team.

“And he’s one of the people who have benefited from it. Same with Tommy Lineham, rather than going back and not being able to play Tommy’s been ab le to play reserve grade.

“And some of our other boys when they’re not able to get in the first team it has helped to prepare them for occasions like this tonight.

“I know you might save an odd bus trip or two by not having a reserve grade team but for us it has been a huge benefit.

“When you have a look at the teams who have had a reserve grade team, they’re all at the top. And some of the others who decided not too, have a look at where they’re competing at the moment. Some of them have come back up though.”

Smith said Brad Dwyer was given a rest this week, with England Academy international Morgan Smith preferred as the man to come on and give Clark a breather instead.

“Brad’s been a little bit off and he’d be the first to admit,” said Smith.

“He’s been trying hard but he’s in a little bit of a rut at the moment so we gave him a week off.

“Whether that’s the case next week, we’ll have to see.

“He’s handled it all well and he’s working hard on some aspects of his game that he needs to get right.

“Morgan’s done a great job when we’ve asked him too over the last little while so he deserved his chance.

“He’s a talented young player and is going to be a good player for us for many years to come.

“Also in the pack, Jack Hughes jumped to the left side with Currie not being there and he did a good job.

“Westerman worked very hard for us and then young Toby King and Sammy Wilde shared the right side and they did a good job for us.

“There’s no injuries that I know of at this stage and we may have one or two back for next week as well, but we’ll see and hopefully I’ll have selection headaches.”

He concluded: “We’re pleased to pick this Shield up along the way.

“It’s not the be all and end all, and I’ve said this before. Until they make it a pure competition, it takes a little bit away from it that we play the extra game in the season (the Magic Weekend).

“If we all played each other twice with no extra game, then it means a whole lot more. It just takes a little bit away from that.

“We’re still pleased we’ve come out on top along the way and we’re looking forward to really competing for the one that is elusive to us next week and see if it can take us one step further.”