Warrington 36 Wilmslow 46

A LOSS in an exciting 12-try encounter against Wilmslow on Saturday leaves Warrington coach Andy Roberts clear where he wants his side to improve.

“This was a game we could easily have won,” he said.

“Unfortunately, once again, we were a little lax in defence and this is something we will have to tighten up in the coming weeks.”

Injury-hit Warrington were gutsy though, eventually losing to fourth-placed opponents even though they scored 29 points in a second-half comeback.

They also opened the scoring through full-back Tom Arnold, after Tom Wood and Cam Lewis laid the platform from a speculative clearance kick. Ben Hockenhull converted.

Although Warrington’s front row established early superiority, the visitors forced themselves back into the game with two penalties.

But the turning point came when Warrington were reduced to 14 men five minutes before half time.

Wilmslow mercilessly exploited their temporary numerical superiority by scoring three tries in the sin-binning period, while Warrington’s only response in that period was a penalty goal.

Restored to their full complement, Warrington replied with a try out of the top drawer that saw Nick Pennington and Wood each gaining 20 yards before Arnold released Nathan Beasley to swerve around his opposing winger at speed. Hockenhull converted.

Wilmslow replied with two quick tries to give them a 36-17 lead but Warrington cut the deficit when the visitors had a man sent to the bin.

Tom Green powered over from a tap penalty and Hockenhull again added the extras but from the restart the Wilmslow second row claimed the ball and ran to the line virtually unopposed, taking his side’s lead to a seemingly untouchable 17 points.

But Warrington were working to their own script and added two tries in quick time.

The first came from a mid-field turnover which gave Max Caldwell the space to squeeze over.

Minutes later Roberts broke the Wilmslow defensive line and Wood continued the momentum before drawing in two defenders to free Beesley for his second try.

But with the lead cut to five points Warrington were unable to score again and Wilmslow had the last word with a well-taken try.