AS Danny Brough’s post-hooter kick to save a draw sailed wide of the posts, the vast majority of The Halliwell Jones Stadium crowd breathed a huge sigh of relief.

There was also an equally huge roar of celebration and rightly so. For the first time since 2010, The Wire had won both of their Easter fixtures.

Given the number of players that watched the game from the stands, that is no mean feat, but Tony Smith will know there is still much work to be done.

They got off to the perfect start when Harvey Livett crossed in their first set of the game, but any suggestions this game was going to be a Bank Holiday stroll in the park were woefully wide of the mark.

For the majority of the first half, Huddersfield looked dangerous and not like a side whose winless run was about to stretch to eight matches.

They utilised the blind side well, offloaded and broke the line frequently and made easy metres from dummy-half. Wire were being beaten at their own game.

Tries from Darnell McIntosh and Jake Mamo, either side of a Daryl Clark effort for Wolves, looked set to send them into the break ahead.

However, by using a classic shoulder drop to bamboozle the Giants defence, Kurt Gidley had other ideas.

After the break, there was a slight flatness to the Wire performance, especially after Brough had used the territory presented by his 40-20 by burrowing over to put the visitors ahead.

Their old ways of handling errors and a lack of creativity seemed to be creeping back into their game and Brough’s penalty put them six points behind going into the final 20 minutes.

However, for two minutes at least, Wolves found their mojo again.

Rhys Evans capped off an excellent right edge move to equalise before Dec Patton’s cross-field kick was somehow touched down by Toby King.

Patton then missed two drop goals to give Wolves a two-score lead and Huddersfield sensed an opportunity.

Warrington could not repeat the game management they showed in the later stages of the Widnes victory and a Jack Hughes knock-on presented the Giants with an attacking scrum with 37 seconds left.

Straight from it, McGillvary squeezed over in the corner but Brough could not make himself the hero and Wolves held on.

INTERESTING NOTES:

. Harvey Livett scores his first Super League try.

. Wolves win their two Easter fixtures for the first time since 2010.

. Huddersfield have now only won one of their last 10 visits to Warrington.

MATCH FACTS:

Warrington Wolves…26 Huddersfield Giants…24, Monday, April 17, 2017:

Wolves: Stefan Ratchford; Rhys Evans, Toby King, Harvey Livett, Tom Lineham; Declan Patton, Kurt Gidley; Chris Hill, Daryl Clark, Ashton Sims, Jack Hughes, Benjamin Jullien, Mike Cooper. Subs: Brad Dwyer, Joe Philbin, Andre Savelio, George King.

Giants: Jake Mamo; Jermaine McGillvary, Sam Wood, Aaron Murphy, Darnell McIntosh; Danny Brough, Lee Gaskell; Sebastine Ikahihifo, Ryan Hinchcliffe, Shannon Wakeman, Ollie Roberts, Alex Mellor, Paul Clough. Subs: Sam Rapira, Kruise Leeming, Nathan Mason, Tyler Dickinson.

Scoring: Livett try, 3mins, 4-0; McIntosh try, 7mins, 4-4; Clark try, 12mins, Patton goal, 10-4; Mamo try, 17mins, Brough goal, 10-10; Brough penalty, 25mins, 10-12; Gidley try, 35mins, Patton goal, 16-12; Brough try, 47mins, Brough goal, 16-18; Brough penalty, 61mins, 16-20; Evans try, 66mins, 20-20; T King try, 68mins, Patton goal, 26-20; McGillvary try, 80mins, 26-24.

Penalties: Wolves 9 Giants 4.

Referee: Ben Thaler.

Attendance: 10,111.

Man of the match (live blog fan’s poll): Stefan Ratchford.