GUARDIAN VERDICT: Warrington Wolves 27 Celtic Crusaders 22 (From Warrington Guardian)

GUARDIAN VERDICT: Warrington Wolves 27 Celtic Crusaders 22

8:00am Thursday 2nd April 2009

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THERE have been too many occasions in the past when Warrington Wolves would have lost a game like this.

The let downs are memorable, especially Catalans Dragons’ first ever away Super League win at The Halliwell Jones Stadium in 2007 and basement team Castleford Tigers’ success 10 months ago.

Wolves, seemingly unable to shake off the habit of failing to lift themselves for a fixture against supposed lesser opposition, just pulled enough out of the drawer to record their second win of the season against Celtic Crusaders on Sunday.

No doubt visiting coach John Dixon targeted two points from this clash believing hot-and-cold Wolves seem to have difficulty backing up a good performance like they had against Hull KR a week earlier.

Perhaps he, like others before him, felt Wolves would be vulnerable against a side that is yet to win its first ever point in Super League.

And they were vulnerable, especially after becoming rattled as Celtic ripped up the script and took a 12-6 lead against the run of play.

It would have been 18-6 had full back Chris Riley not chased back 80 metres to pull off a wonderful try-saving tackle on Crusaders stand off Damien Quinn in the 27th minute.

Also, the outcome could well have been different had influential Crusaders half back Matty Smith not been carried off with ankle ligament damage in the 69th minute or if prop Ryan O’Hara had not stupidly got himself sent to the sin bin for sticking his knee in Chris Riley’s face after a dashing 50-metre break three minutes later.

It was 22-22 at that stage but cometh the hour, cometh the man as in-form Lee Briers nudged his team in front with the 57th drop goal of his 12-year Wolves career with just four minutes to go.

Briers, who scored a try in the first half and played a key role in two tries after the break, was one player who could not have been criticised for failing to deliver. In fact, boss Tony Smith described his contribution to the win as ‘sensational’ while also singing the praises of Paul Wood, Adrian Morley, Mickey Higham and Ben Westwood.

The points were wrapped up when substitute Chris Bridge, used as a stand off or hooker during his time on the field, opened up space for Chris Hicks to cut inside and use his ox-like strength to bump off two defenders before crossing the line in the 78th minute.

A win is a win, as they say, and it is easy to forget that Wolves were without the injured Michael Monaghan (hamstring), Jon Clarke (ankle), Garreth Carvell (knee) and Stuart Reardon (Achilles), as well as the suspended Ben Westwood, but it is a mark of the quality of this squad that they were rightly still expected to perform much better than they did.

Match facts

Warrington Wolves 27 Celtic Crusaders 22

Wolves: Chris Riley; Chris Hicks (1t, 3g), Paul Johnson, Simon Grix (1t), Matt King (1t); Martin Gleeson, Lee Briers (1t, 1dg); Adrian Morley, Mickey Higham, Paul Rauhihi, Louis Anderson, Vinnie Anderson, Ben Harrison. Subs: Paul Wood, Mike Cooper, Chris Bridge, Lee Mitchell (1t).

Crusaders: Tony Duggan; Luke Dyer (1t), Josh Hannay (1t, 3g), Mark Dalle-Cort, Anthony Blackwood (1t); Damien Quinn, Matty Smith; Ryan O’Hara, Lincoln Withers (1t), Mark Bryant, Jason Chan, Darren Mapp, Marshall Chalk. Subs: Neil Budworth, Adam Peek, Peter Lupton, Jordan James.

Referee: Ian Smith

Scoring: Rauhihi burst lays the platform for Louis Anderson to put Grix over, 4mins, Hicks converts, 6-0; run-around move creates space for Duggan to hand Blackwood a try, 18mins, Hannay converts, 6-6; Smith grubber sits nicely for Withers to pounce between the sticks, 22mins, Hannay converts, 6-12; Briers steps past Duggan from a Wood offload, 28mins, Hicks converts, 12-12; Hannay dummies and escapes Mitchell’s grasp to score, 37mins, Hanny converts, 12-18; Wolves create an overlap for King to squeeze over from Grix’s pass, 47mins, 16-18; Chalk’s initial break leads to Dyer walkover on next tackle, 54mins, 16-22; Mitchell ploughs over from Gleeson release, 60mins, Hicks converts, 22-22; Briers lands 35m drop goal, 76mins, 23-22; Hicks cuts inside after Bridge dart and bumps off two tacklers to touch down, 78mins, 27-22.

Sin bin: O’Hara, 72mins, illegal use of knee.

Pens: Wolves 6 Crusaders 5

Attendance: 7,854

Warrington Guardian top men: Briers 3pts, Wood 2pts, Morley 1pt.

Interesting note: First Welsh side to visit Warrington for a league game since Pontypridd in 1927.