WOLVES had victory pinched from them with the final play of the game by Wigan in the concluding game of Magic Weekend 2017 Day One at St James' Park in Newcastle.

A Jack Hughes score six minutes from time had put The Wire ahead for the first time but Joe Burgess managed to keep hold of Sean O’Loughlin’s kick to the corner as the last roll of the dice earned Wigan at least a share of the spoils.

Both sides had to be happy with that after George Williams failed to land the touchline conversion.

The drama of the second half lifted what had been a scrappy first period.

Some wild handling and fortune from a ricochet paid off for Wigan as they opened the scoring in the ninth minute.

Matty Russell was only able to palm O’Loughlin’s looping pass further into the direction of Liam Marshall as the winger walked over. Josh Woods converted but he had been limping and was soon to be replaced by Joel Tomkins.

Wolves were soon back on level terms, Daryl Clark picking up a ball that came loose from Chris Hill’s attack of the try line to then force his way over. Stefan Ratchford squared things up with the boot.

A period of scrappy play was capped off by Marshall picking off a Kevin Brown pass and not only having the legs to pull away from chasing Clark but to keep Ryan Atkins at arm’s length too as the Wolves centre came across from the opposite side of the field.

With Williams adding the conversion, Wigan led by their 2016 Grand Final-winning scoreline of 12-6 after 24 minutes.

Russell did just enough to force Marshall’s left foot into touch as the winger looked set for his hat-trick soon after, and then George King was held up over the line from from his arrival off the bench.

It was Russell who sparked The Wire back into life with a dazzling run from his own 30-metre line, dancing around Taulima Tautai and handing over to Ratchford in support.

Lewis Tierney found himself in the sin bin for holding down and Wolves messed up the next two sets attacking the try line with handling errors, allowing Wigan to hold on to their slender lead at the break.

A penalty for offside laid the platform for perfect attacking position at the start of the second half for Wire but Brown’s pass to Westwood was not precise enough.

Still down to 12 men, Wigan got over again through Marshall’s hat-trick effort. He kicked ahead to himself from dummy half and after a rebound off Westwood’s legs the winger cleanly planted the ball over the line and Williams converted for 18-6.

A lovely try wiped the previous Wigan effort out, with Ratchford crossing for his 101st career score, but his first of the season for The Wire.

He regathered a delicate Brown chip kick before handing off Tierney on an angled route to the line in the 53rd minute, but the Wire full back missed the relatively simple conversion.

Five minutes later the gap was narrowed to two points when Tom Lineham steamed over in the left corner after accepting an inviting long pass from Ratchford, who added the touchline conversion too.

An instinctive high tackle on Brown led to a telling off but no card for Wigan skipper O’Loughlin and Ratchford banged over the penalty from 20 metres for 18-18 with all the momentum going Warrington’s way.

Michael McIlorum got away with an offside from a kick in front of his own posts but then a blatant obstruction from Hughes allowed Williams to pot an angled penalty off the post to restore Wigan’s two-point advantage with 10 minutes remaining.

Six minutes from time Jack Hughes cut inside Burgess by stepping off his right foot to cross against his former club and Ratchford’s extras put The Wire in the lead for the first time.

But with less than a minute left on the clock, Joe Burgess claimed O’Loughlin’s huge punt to the left corner to touch down the match-levelling try.

Williams was well wide with the conversion from the touchline and with only nine seconds remaining there was nothing Wolves could do about seeking a winning point.

Wolves: Stefan Ratchford; Matty Russell, Jack Hughes, Ryan Atkins, Tom Lineham; Kevin Brown, Kurt Gidley; Chris Hill, Daryl Clark, Mike Cooper, Benjamin Jullien, Ben Westwood, Joe Westerman. Subs: Dom Crosby, Joe Philbin, Brad Dwyer, George King.

Warriors: Lewis Tierney; Tom Davies, Liam Forsyth, Joe Burgess, Liam Marshall; George Williams, Josh Woods; Frank-Paul Nuuausala, Michael McIlorum, Ryan Sutton, Willie Isa, Liam Farrell, Sean O’Loughlin. Subs: Taulima Tautai, Joel Tomkins, Jack Wells, Callum Field.

Referee: Ben Thaler.

Attendance: 35,361 (aggregate for Magic Weekend Day One)