Warrington 13 Carlisle 18

ANDY Roberts had “nothing but praise” for his makeshift Warrington side despite watching them slip to their third straight defeat.

Carlisle completed a league double over Roberts’ side at Walton Lea as their power upfront proved too much for a patched-up home pack.

As with last week’s reverse at Manchester, Steve Pilkington scored Warrington’s only try, with Ben Hockenhull kicking a conversion and two penalties.

Head coach Roberts says he hopes to have some of his “strike players” available for the trip to Altrincham Kersal on Saturday, kick off 2.15pm.

“We had to spend much of the game without the ball,” he said.

“We are suffering injury problems at the moment and hopefully we can look forward to the return of some of our strike players.

“However, I have nothing but praise for the lads who put their hands up today.”

With Carlisle dominant at the scrum, it was no surprise when they took the lead via a pushover try on 15 minutes.

Warrington struggled to find a foothold in the game, but Hockenhull provided one with the boot by kicking two long-range penalties to reduce the deficit to just one point.

A superb turnover from Harry Kellett prevented another Carlisle try, but their reprieve was short-lived as the visiting scrum-half weaved his way over to extend the advantage.

The second half began with Warrington on the attack and they edged ahead when Josh Downes’ superb offload got them on the front foot and the ball was flashed to Pilkington, who regained his feet after being hauled down just short to score.

However, Carlisle kicked two penalties to give them a five-point lead and that was the way it stayed, meaning Warrington remain eighth in the North One West table.

Sandbach 2nd 23 Warrington 2nd 21

WARRINGTON's seconds surrendered an 11-point lead as they fell to defeat at Sandbach.

Christian Taylor, Ben Dixon and Will Maudsley crossed the whitewash for the visitors, with Dixon adding three conversions.

They host Crewe and Nantwich’s seconds on Saturday, kick off 2.15pm.