Vale of Lune 29 Warrington 24

A LATE fightback was not enough for Warrington to take the points against Vale of Lune, with player/coach Andy Roberts left to rue a poor first hour.

Trailing by 19 points with 10 minutes to go, Warrington found a second wind and tries from Nathan Beesley and Elliot Johnston gave them hope of an unlikely comeback.

However, they could not force a result and Roberts was left frustrated by his side’s Jekyll and Hyde performance.

“This was a game of if onlys,” he said.

“Our ball retention for sixty minutes was not good, which meant we played much of the game on the back foot.

“However, the way we came back to score fourteen unanswered points shows what we are really capable of.”

Despite being put under intense pressure in the opening stages, the hosts scored the first points of the game after stealing the ball in their own half to allow Jordan Fern a free, 70-yard run to the line.

Ben Dorrington added the conversion before Chris Ramwell powered home from 35 yards to put the hosts in command.

Warrington’s only reply before the break was a well-struck Ben Hockenhull penalty, but the hosts seemed to snuff out any hope of a comeback within fifteen minutes of the restart through tries from Fergus Owens and Dan Baines.

Sandwiched between those efforts was Warrington’s first try courtesy of Beesley, who collected Roberts’ chip to race over.

However, despite seeming dead and buried, the visitors sparked into life when another Roberts chip found Beesley again to sprint through for his second try.

Hockenhull converted before a short pass from Tom Wood saw Johnston crash over. Hockenhull again added the extras, but it was too late.

Warrington, now ninth in the North One West table, welcome Rochdale to Walton Lea Road on Saturday, kick off 2.15pm.