WARRINGTON Wolves' under 20s completed a miserable weekend for the club as they fell to a 24-16 defeat to Wigan in the Valvoline Cup Grand Final at the Leigh Sports Village.

In the searing Saturday afternoon heat, the young Wolves battled bravely but were outfought by an experienced Wigan Warriors outfit after losing Chris Fleming and Jack Cooper to injury in the first half.

Wolves under 20s head coach Richard Marshall said: “The result hasn’t gone our way and that is disappointing, but throughout the season the improvements that we have made have been immense.

"We won the RL9s tournament, several of our players have progressed through into the first team and we have pushed a very good Wigan side all the way this afternoon.

"Wigan were the better team on the day but I am very proud of all the players and staff.

"We lost two players in the first half and that limited our interchange options but these are the things that you have to contend with in a tough contact sport.

"The game typified how we have been all year; Jordan Burke was a great last line of defence pulling of several try scoring tackles and must have been very close to picking up the Man of the Match award, James Mendeika led the team very well as he has done all year and James Saltonstall was everywhere taking two or three carries in each set.”

Marshall added, “Next year a lot of the lads will be moving to full time and this will give us an extra edge.

"I would like to thank all the players and staff for their efforts throughout the year and although today hasn’t gone the way we wanted it to we have still had a successful season.

"The support that we have had from Squadbuilder once again this season has been invaluable and very much appreciated by us all.”

Wolves opened the scoring in the 13th minute, when an offload from prop Ben Evans found scrum half Bobbie Goulding darting through a small gap to score at the side of the posts.

Ryan Shaw added the conversion.

Warrington were rocked just after the half hour when winger Chris Fleming had to leave the field following a high tackle from his opposite number and shortly afterwards a break from dummy half by winger Ryan King split the Wolves defence.

He found centre Stefan Marsh in support to score at the side of the posts, with fellow centre Jack Murphy converting.

Three minutes later a break down the right wing by second row Jack Hughes paved the way for King to race over in the corner and add to their lead.

A clever kick off from Shaw saw him collect the ball and following two quick play-the-balls a great long pass from James Mendeika found James Saltonstall, who squeezed over in the right corner to make the interval score 10-10.

By now though Wolves had suffered further depletion to the side, substitute Jack Cooper being forced off with a shoulder injury on the stroke of half time.

Wigan edged back in front eight minutes into the second half, when Murphy landed a penalty after the Wolves were punished for holding down in the tackle.

Winger Jayden Sandford then scored in the left corner just after the hour mark, stretching the Warriors' lead to six points.

The valiant Wolves never let their heads drop and continued to try and make inroads into the Wigan half, but it was without any joy and instead it was the Warriors who moved further clear when Hughes raced 30 metres to score at the side of the posts.

Murphy goaled and soon after added a penalty to give his side an unassailable 24-10 advantage.

The Wolves kept going and in the final minute Saltonstall broke down the middle and he chipped ahead and managed to outpace the chasing cover to collect superbly and score in the right corner.

Shaw converted from the touchline but it was all in vain as the Warriors were left to celebrate a hard fought victory.

Warriors: Matthew Russell, Ryan King (1t), Stefan Marsh (1t), Jack Murphy (4g), Jayden Sandford (1t), Joe Mellor, Sam Powell, Dominic Crosby, Logan Tomkins, Ben Davies, Jack Hughes (1t), Jamie Acton, Kieron Harrison. Subs: Tom Spencer, Matthew Crow, Liam Carberry, Greg Burke.

Wolves: Jordan Burke, Chris Fleming, James Saltonstall (1t), Ryan Shaw (2g), Rhys Williams, James Mendeika, Bobbie Goulding (1t), Glenn Riley, Gavin Williams, Ben Evans, Tyrone McCarthy, Danny Bridge, James Laithwaite. Subs: Ben Currie, Brad Dwyer, Brooke Broughton, Jack Cooper.