OH boy, it is painful watching Warrington Wolves at the moment despite Tony Smith's side sniffing trophies.

The frustration of being close enough to silverware to get the polish out and then losing grip is reducing hopes and cheers to deflation and tears.

Some thought The Wire 'blew it' in the Challenge Cup Final against Hull at Wembley. There was no doubt they did when the League Leaders' Shield was up for grabs at home to Wigan on Friday.

Poor game management led to Wigan scoring 21 unanswered points in the final 23 minutes with only 12 men.

Wolves, with all the momentum from taking a 28-14 lead courtesy of two tries in four minutes from Joe Westerman and Ben Currie, had Wigan on the ropes after prop Ben Flower was sent off for a high and late challenge on Dec Patton.

But the knockout blow, although close on a number of occasions, never came.

Yet when they only had 12 men in the first half, with Stefan Ratchford harshly in the sin bin for a flop, they did everything right to take a 16-8 lead with two tries in three minutes from Kurt Gidley and Chris Hill.

Wolves, who had lost the services of Currie (knee) and the super-human Daryl Clark (back) around the same period as Flower's exit, failed to remain composed, while Wigan's 12 found the energy reserves to not only hang in the fight but hit back.

Tony Smith, while crediting Wigan's defence, also acknowledged his players went away from the game plan that had been working, started to concede penalties and failed to clamp damaging offloads.

Wolves also did not get the kind of impact out of their rotations that Wigan did out of theirs, in particular the rampaging Frank-Paul Nuuausala.

In a key one-minute period Ryan Atkins, Westerman, Ashton Sims and Brad Dwyer were held within two metres of the try line but after a poor finish to the set Wolves' players were stood behind their own sticks.

After conceding successive penalties from the restart, they were back there again less than four minutes later after Josh Charnley's second try from a Sam Tomkins assist.

Wolves, who scored two tries while Stefan Ratchford was in the sin bin in the first half, had further chances that were not taken, notably Kurt Gidley being stopped inches short.

Wigan were clinical though and Tomkins put Lewis Tierney over for his second try, albeit controversially as video replays appeared to show his left hand on the touchline.

A Matty Smith drop goal and decisive Anthony Gelling interception try completed the party pooping.

STATS:

Wolves remain top of the table with one Super 8s game remaining

A draw at Hull FC on Friday will be enough to still lift the League Leaders' Shield

Wigan's first win in three attempts against Wolves this year

Second highest home attendance of the season, behind the Widnes Vikings sell-out on Good Friday

MATCH FACTS:

Super 8s, Round Six Friday, September 16, 2016

Warrington Wolves...28 Wigan Warriors...35

Wolves: Stefan Ratchford; Rhys Evans, Toby King, Ryan Atkins, Matty Russell; Kurt Gidley, Dec Patton; Chris Hill, Daryl Clark, Ashton Sims, Jack Hughes, Ben Currie, Joe Westerman. Subs: Brad Dwyer, Sam Wilde, Joe Philbin, George King

Warriors: Sam Tomkins; Josh Charnley, Anthony Gelling, Dan Sarginson, Lewis Tierney; George Williams, Matty Smith; Frank-Paul Nuuausala, Sam Powell, Ben Flower, John Bateman, Liam Farrell, Willie Isa. Subs: Dom Crosby, Taulima Tautai, Ryan Sutton, Jake Shorrocks.

Scoring: Tierney try, 2mins, 0-4; Smith penalty, 7mins, 0-6; Smith penalty, 0-8; Russell try, 25mins, 4-8; Gidley try, 34mins, Patton goal, 10-8; Hill try, 36mins, Patton goal, 16-8; Tomkins try, 39mins, Smith goal, 16-14; Westerman try, 47mins, Patton goal, 22-14; Currie try, 51mins, Patton goal, 28-14; Charnley try, 60mins, 28-18; Charnley try, 63mins, Shorrocks goal, 28-24, Tierney try, 72mins, 28-28; Smith drop goal, 75mins, 28-29; Gelling try, 78mins, Shorrocks goal, 28-35.

Penalties: Wolves 12 Warriors 12

Sin bin: Ratchford (flop) 29mins

Sent off: Flower (high, late challenge) 57mins

Referee: Robert Hicks

Attendance: 13,044

Top man: Daryl Clark