A NIGHT match, late in the season against title and local rivals, was always likely to have a play-off feel and the clash with Saints most definitely did.

St Helens started well, as if determined to clinch that League Leaders Shield in front of their own fans, and they opened the scoring after only three minutes with an impressive handling move.

Wire's response to that early setback was to produce a dominant display that made a mockery of Saints' position at the top of the table.

Trademark speed around the play-the-ball helped gain plenty of metres, and when combined with an almost complete absence of handling areas and some excellent attacking kicks near the Saints line it helped build too much pressure for Saints to handle.

The first Wire try came after only seven minutes, when Ratchford found enough space to jink over from the right centre position.

Saints' defence only held out for another ten minutes before a burst of three tries in six minutes opened up a gap that the home team never looked like closing enough to get back into the game.

First Michael Monaghan's extravagant dummy allowed him to ghost over the line untouched from close range, then O'Brien looked every inch a running style Super League half back as he dummied his way over and the last try in that burst was an excellent team try. Michael Monaghan created a break by Waterhouse before excellent support by Richie Myler and Joel Monaghan resulted in a try for the latter.

Willie Manu scored a try for Saints and a Myler drop goal meant that the lead at half time was eleven points, and that flattered St Helens.

Wire were first to score in the second half, when Myler expertly waited to the last moment until he committed to going to the right of the play-the-play the ball from around ten metres out, then took advantage of hesitation in the Saints defence to keep up the dummying success of the night.

The last two tries came when Wire were defending, first Joel Monaghan added his second of the night on a free play after a comedy of errors from Saints. Then Ryan Atkins pounced on a loose ball before racing away untouched to round off the scoring.

Bizarrely Wire can still fininsh anywhere between second and fifth. Wherever they finish they look poised to make another assault on Old Trafford.