A PATCHED-UP Warrington Wolves academy side slipped to only their second defeat of the campaign on Friday evening.

In a curtain-raiser to the Super League fixture between the two clubs at the DW Stadium, The Wire were beaten 30-12 by Wigan Warriors to end a run of five consecutive victories.

The sides swapped tries in the early stages – Lukas Mason twisted over for the hosts before Jake Thewlis crashed over off a bullet Noah Booth pass for Warrington to make the scores 6-6.

Warrington Guardian: Jake Thewlis touches down in the first halfJake Thewlis touches down in the first half (Image: Joe Richardson/Warrington Wolves)

Before Mason opened the scoring, Wire had a try ruled out after a forward pass call denied giant prop Tom McKinney, who was forced off with a serious-looking injury shortly afterwards in a further blow to a side already missing key players such as Arron Lindop and Joe Bajer due to concussion.

However, the Warriors took control as Taylor Kerr and Maddox Jeffrey crossed within six minutes of each other before the break while just after it, Trent Kelly-Duffy touched down to put the hosts firmly in command.

Warrington did find a response in the form of electric full-back Cai Taylor-Wray, who darted through a gap to touch down from a scrum, but a defensive lapse then allowed impressive Wigan scrum-half Jack Farrimond to round off the scoring.

Warrington Guardian: Cai Taylor-Wray scores in the second halfCai Taylor-Wray scores in the second half (Image: Joe Richardson)

Despite the scoreline, however, academy head coach Danny Evans was pleased with a lot of what he saw from his charges.

“We were disappointed to come away with the loss, but there was plenty of effort throughout the game,” he said.

“We had to face some adversity with selection through injury, late withdrawals and then the loss of Tom McKinney early through a nasty looking leg injury. This juggled the team up a fair bit.

“We scrambled well on goal line but conceded some soft tries.

“With the ball we created chances but need to execute better.

“I cannot fault our attitude – we just came up short.”

The team’s next fixture sees them travel to Wakefield Trinity on Saturday, July 29.

Wolves: Cai Taylor-Wray; Dylon Braddish, Zack Gardner, Jake Thewlis, Frank Sergent; Pat Irwin, Noah Booth; Stephen Antrobus, Ben Hartill, Tom McKinney, Ewan Smith, Nolan Tupaea, Sam Marshall. Subs: Lewis Barratt, Ben Godwin, Isaac Reid, Jack Edge