THERE can be no arguments about Steve Price’s assessment regarding Warrington Wolves’ one-point loss at Wigan Warriors.

The Wire laid a sufficient enough platform in a gutsy second-half showing to have won the match and gone level with second-placed Wigan on the Super League ladder.

That they did not boils down to dominance not being turned into points through poor tactical kicking.

They scored three tries to two but there should have been more to reward getting on top in the second half.

REPORT AND VIDEO: Steve Price highlights how the game was lost

But at least half a dozen times, deep inside Wigan territory, the required finish to the set was either poorly executed or not forthcoming through unsatisfactory game management.

For that, the finger points at half-backs Tyrone Roberts and Kevin Brown who were outplayed by a hooker and rookie in those same roles in the Wigan line-up.

Consistently messing up that area of the game at the top level is criminal.

That failure to turn the screw, to ram home the advantages gained, cost The Wire dearly when 20-year-old stand off Josh Woods showed Roberts, who missed with an attempt moments earlier, how to coolly land a match-winning drop goal.

Some between-the-ears stuff might have been missing, but the same cannot be said for effort and commitment.

Warrington Guardian:

In a ferocious and compelling contest between two depleted but physical outfits, Ben Westwood led from the front on his 500th career performance. Would you have expected anything else?

Skipper Chris Hill and fellow prop Mike Cooper were immense too, up against a Wigan pack missing some big guns but stacked with youthful exuberance and likely stars of the future.

After such effort it makes the loss all the more sickening.

It would sound like sour grapes to mention the two forward passes from dummy half Tommy Leuluai to John Bateman in the final set of six that led to the winning drop goal, so let them slide.

But it would be ignorant not to highlight how nuisance Wigan full-back Sam Tomkins interfered with Wire’s ability to restart the game when he kicked away the kicking tee from Stef Ratchford on the halfway line as the last 24 seconds counted down. The Wire should have been awarded a penalty and the chance of two points.

For most of the last four minutes it looked like Josh Charnley’s stunning powerful finish against his former club from the creative work of Roberts and Mitch Brown would give The Wire a share of the spoils.

Warrington Guardian:

Warrington Guardian:

Stef Ratchford, Warrington’s highest percentage kicker this year, will still be gutted that his touchline conversion skimmed a post as it went wide, and he was not far off the mark with a similarly difficult effort to Tom Lineham’s 61st-minute try that deservedly got The Wire back in the hunt.

Warrington Guardian:

Warrington Guardian:

Successful conversions would have made a telling difference but ultimately it was the last-tackle plays that left Warrington paying the price.

Match facts

Super League Round 20, Friday, July 6, 2018

Wigan Warriors…13 Warrington Wolves…12

Warriors: Sam Tomkins; Tom Davies, John Bateman, Oliver Gildart, Liam Marshall; Josh Woods, Sam Powell; Tony Clubb, Tommy Leuluai, Ben Flower, Willie Isa, Liam Farrell, Gabe Hamlin. Subs: Morgan Escare, Callum Field, Liam Paisley, Taulima Tautai.

Wolves: Stefan Ratchford; Josh Charnley, Toby King, Bryson Goodwin, Tom Lineham; Kevin Brown, Tyrone Roberts; Chris Hill, Daryl Clark, Mike Cooper, Sita Akauola, Jack Hughes, Ben Westwood. Subs: Dom Crosby, Dec Patton, Joe Philbin, Mitch Brown.

Scoring: Davis try, 10mins, Tomkins goal, 6-0; King try, 19mins, 6-4; Paisley try, 29mins, Tomkins goal, 12-4; Lineham try, 62mins, 12-8; Charnley try, 76mins, 12-12; Woods drop goal, 80mins, 13-12.

Penalties: Warriors 7 Wolves 3

Referee: Chris Kendall

Attendance: 13,249

Top man (readers' vote): Ben Westwood