Wolves' Grand Final agony goes on

They will be left to rue some of the chances that went begging, particularly in the first half.

And after Chris Sandow's impact from the bench they may also reflect on what might have been had the Aussie dynamo been on from the start.

There will no doubt be a lot of what ifs, particularly given the number of players they had lost in the run up to this finale.

But they met a Wigan side in the same boat on that score.

Warrington started the brighter of the two sides and after a solid first set they put Wigan under pressure, forcing the error with a sloppy pass knocked on 30metres out.

This allowed The Wire the first attack, and a kick wide was caught by Tom Lineham, offloaded to Rhys Evans who was smothered on the last.

But Wolves were soon back for more and a Matty Russell dart from dummy half, followed by a piercing run from Gidley allowed Declan Patton to kick on the front foot again to Lineham, but it was too wide for the wing to do anything with.

Back-to-back Wigan penalties, the second for a leg pull on John Bateman as he regained his feet, allowed Matty Smith to kick the goal from in front of the sticks.

Smith's tester of a high ball was taken by Ratchford and a quick play the ball earned a penalty for offside to put Wire on the attack but big tackle on Chris Hill from Sam Powell forced a turnover.

A 40/20 from Smith put Wigan back on the attack but Wolves' defence held firm with a last tackle grubber picked up.

Wigan pressed again but an attacking chip over bounced kindly for Warrington, away from the chasers.

Wigan attacked from deep, but the Wolves defence was equal to the task with Liam Farrell nailed going for line – but they kept it alive and moved it wide but the last pass went forward to Josh Charnley.

Wolves then appeared to find a chink in the Wigan armour, with high kicks constantly forcing errors from the shaky back three.

After a high kick was lost by Charnley 18 metres out, Wolves appeared to have opened them up but Atkins knocked on a flicked offload with the line begging.

The Wire were soon back on the attack, and on 21 minutes Clark probed line and popped it out to Declan Patton who dummied and went, the young seven having the strength to get the ball over the whitewash.

Patton converted and Wolves were 6-2 to the good.

Gidley's high ball again tested the Wigan defence, and it was spilled by Sarginson in his own 10metre zone.

Warrington's tails were up, with Gidley going close before Jack Hughes appeared to be going over on 24 minutes only to be mugged en route, the ball being dislodged  by a three man gang.

Hughes' protests were to no avail and Wigan countered.

Fortunately for Warrington, Stefan Ratchford showed no fear of the high ball when tested.

However, when Wire then lost the ball in the tackle – Wigan countered and on the free play Sarginson went close. Strangely,  George Williams opted for a grubber tackle on play two which asked no questions.

At the other end Wigan tried to clear line but Atkins' tackle dislodged ball from Taulima Tautai to keep them under the cosh in own 10m zone.

Unfortunately Joe Westerman tried an extravagant offload when maybe some straightforward play would have turned the screw and Ratchford could not hold it.

The Wire had let Wigan off hook that they had skewered them on.

Then a bizarre passage of play saw Atkins fairly steal a one on one to race upfield – only to be recalled two plays later for an earlier offside.

After a period of some tough defending, there was some composed play from Patton who drilled the ball into corner and Warrington went in four points to the good.

When Charnley dropped another high ball to put Wire on the attack on 53 minutes and Atkins went over for a try long passes in the movement but dpropped the ball in the act of scoring.

Wigan countered while Wolves were cursing their luck and Williams' short ball to Farrell let the second row saunter through where he then sent Oliver Gildart over.

Smith missed the goal to tie game at 6-6 on 56 minutes.

The combined efforts in defence of Gidley and the freshly introduced Chris Sandow forced a drop out with a crunching tackle.

Sandow was proving to be a real box of tricks and his grubber in the subsequent set needed an alert Wigan response.

The Warriors advanced upfield where Smith's clearance kick and aggressive chase forced an error from Lineham on impact.

Warrington appeared to have held the Wigan attack, alas a speculative last tackle kick wide from Sarginson was collected in the tightest of corners by Charnley for a spectacular finish.

Smith was unable to goal from the touchline, but with 15 minutes to play Warrington trailed 10-6.

Warrington responded, despite Wigan's tails being up and some adventurous play almost yielded a quick response but Lineham could not reach Clark's kick wide.

There was a degree of understandable urgency about Wolves' play but Gidley's attempted offload in the tackle resulted in a lost ball.

Wire were forced to drop out when a punishing kick from Smith was backed by an aggressive chase to pin Russell behind the line.

Wigan pressed, and Hill was penalised for pushing the ball from Sean O'Loughlin's hands on the line.

Smith kicked the goal, but short kick off saw Wolves regather and launch themselves at the Wigan line. It went right, centre then left where a three man tackle forced Lineham into touch five minutes from time.

Wolves attacked from deep again with Sandow looking menacing every time he touched the ball.

But a high ball came to nought, but then after Smith had put the ball out on the full Warrington went again.

Sandow was again prominent, but Joe Westerman's storming run looked as though he had rescued it, but he was halted short.

Then in the second wave Gidley was held up on the line and that would be the last opportunity.

Wigan were allowed a very slow set of six to see the game out and Wolves' chance had gone.

Warrington: Stefan Ratchford; Tom Lineham, Rhys Evans, Ryan Atkins King, Chris Sandow, Matty Russell; Kurt Gidley, Declan Patton; Chris Hill, Daryl Clark, Ashton Sims, Sam Wilde, Jack Hughes, Joe Westerman. Subs: Toby King, George King, Chris Sandow, Ryan Bailey.

Wigan: Dan Sarginson; Josh Charnley, Anthony Gelling, Oliver Gildart, Lewis Tierney; George Williams, Matty Smith; Frank-Paul Nuuausala, Sam Powell, Ben Flower, John Bateman, Liam Farrell, Willie Isa. Taulima Tautai, Ryan Sutton, Dominic Crosby, Sean O’Loughlin.

Att: 70,202