FEBRUARY 13, 2015 and on a freezing cold night at the KC Stadium, Warrington Wolves edge to a one-point win over Hull FC.

That evening a Gareth O’Brien drop goal proved the winning point, but Wolves’ real victory came in barely missing a tackle as they hung on to a lead for 40 minutes.

Fast forward three months and the same defence that kept them in the clear at Hull landed the hosts ‘in jail’, as Tony Smith put it.

At 10 points clear with 12 minutes on the clock, home fans would be forgiven for thinking this was going to be a third win on the bounce for Smith’s side.

Or perhaps they shouldn’t – a chorus of ‘going down’ aimed at the visitors’ end proved somewhat premature , especially after last week’s antics.

The one-point win at Hull and a last-minute winning try against Widnes add clamour to Super League’s ‘every minute matters’ mantra, but do little for the heart of Warrington’s diehard support.

Wolves, unable to turn pressure into points early on, offered a stinging response to an opening Jordan Thompson try.

Declan Patton’s kicking game again impressed in The Halliwell Jones Sunday sun, something that could soon be consigned to memory, while Joel Monaghan’s finishing prowess was never in doubt.

Ben Currie then scrambled over but the hosts’ goal-line defence before the break let them down.

Even Marc Sneyd will have been surprised just how many defenders he sold with a neat dummy and timely sidestep in front of the sticks, following up a Setaimata Sa score.

However Stefan Ratchford reaffirmed his importance to set up a second Monaghan try, while Wolves showed some slick passing to twice send Gene Ormsby in and suggest this was going to be a routine win.

But when Fetuli Talanoa parted a sea of primrose and blue bodies to send over Mark Minichiello, the tide was visibly turning in the visitors’ favour.

By the time Hull set the play for Sneyd, whose break had earlier sent Tom Lineham in for a leveller, to kick the winning points Wolves were resigned to the loss.

Not even referee Richard Silverwood's stoppage three seconds from time could delay the inevitable – cementing a 180 degree swing in fans’ moods from 12 minutes previous.

MATCH FACTS

Warrington Wolves...26 Hull FC...27

Wolves: Stefan Ratchford; Joel Monaghan, Toby King, Ryan Atkins, Gene Ormsby; Declan Patton, Richie Myler; Roy Asotasi, Micky Higham, Ashton Sims, Ben Currie, Ben Westwood, Ben Harrison. Subs: Chris Bridge, Chris Hill, Anthony England, James Laithwaite.

Hull FC: Jordan Rankin; Tom Lineham, Fetuli Talanoa, Kirk Yeaman, Steve Michaels; Leon Pryce, Marc Sneyd; Liam Watts, Danny Houghton, Gareth Ellis, Setaimata Sa, Mark Minichiello, Jordan Thompson. Subs: Jodran Abdul, Iaefeta Paleaaesina, Chris Green, Richard Whiting.

Scoring: Thompson try, 12mins, Sneyd goal, 0-6; Monaghan try, 16mins, Ratchford goal, 6-6; Currie try, 20mins, Ratchford goal, 12-6; Sa try, 23mins, 12-10; Sneyd try, 30mins, Sneyd goal, 12-16; Monaghan try, 50mins, 16-16; Ormsby try, 52mins, 20-16; Ormsby try, 63mins, Bridge goal, 26-16; Minichiello try, 69mins, Sneyd goal, 26-22; Lineham try, 75mins, 26-26; Sneyd drop goal, 80mins, 26-27.

Penalties: Wolves 6 Hull FC 5

Referee: Richard Silverwood

Attendance: 9,697

Top man: Micky Higham

Two tries for Joel Monaghan takes him to ninth in Warrington’s all-time try scorers list (137 in 131 games) but he has some way to go to catch Lee Briers in eighth (154).

Monaghan has scored in each of Wolves’ last five games

Gene Ormsby has scored in three consecutive games

Chris Bridge needs one appearance to reach 250 for his career. Bridge has played 222 games for Warrington since 2005, and was previously with Bradford (17 games, 2003-2004). Whilst with the Wolves, he has also played 1 dual-registration game for Swinton (2013). Bridge has also played representative games for both England (5, 2009-2011) and Ireland (3, 2006-2007), as well as the Super League under-21s (1, 2003).