WARRINGTON Wolves’ attention has quickly turned to the play-offs semi-final against St Helens following last night’s 36-23 win at Wakefield.

Head coach Steve Price was much happier about the second-half display than the first period as The Wire tasted victory for the first time in three weeks.

The match provided Price with important preparation for the crunch clash with League Leaders’ Shield winners Saints, while he will also welcome back his first-choice half backs Kevin Brown and Tyrone Roberts into the mix.

“This is what we play for,” said Price, looking forward to the meeting with St Helens.

“We’re 80 minutes away from Old Trafford.

“It’s going to be another couple of levels next Thursday and the guys understand that, so we’ll get back to training, enjoy the week and throw everything into next Thursday.

“Kev and Tyrone will be fit for next week and a few other players who will come into consideration also. We’re in pretty good shape.

“It will be difficult to select the team. In saying that, I’d rather it that way.

“It’s all about the team, team first and selflessness. It’s not about being selfish about our club. We’ve driven that since day one in November. I’ve got some tough decisions to make.

“Daryl Clark and Jack Hughes, who got rested last week, got some good minutes under their belt (against Wakefield).

“Benny Murdoch-Masila over the past two weeks has built into his game nicely and got nearly 70 minutes which was pretty handy for us.

“I’m really happy with how we’ve managed the loads over the past weeks, eight weeks especially.”

“We’re going to have to go up quite a few notches.

“Saints have been the benchmark all season.

“Rightly so, we’ll be big underdogs but we’re happy with that tag.”

The try-scoring play just before half time at Wakefield will give the team confidence that they have scoring ability when it matters most.

There were 16 seconds left on the clock when The Wire restarted the game following Ryan Hampshire’s drop goal putting Wakefield 13-6 ahead.

But possession was regained from the kick-off, Josh Charnley broke away down the right, kicked ahead and Toby King sneaked in from behind defenders to touch down a pivotal try that was one of six converted by Dec Patton, who went on to cross for an important score later in the second period.

“Josh Charnley is a fantastic player,” said Price.

“To kick it back inside and then the effort off the ball from Toby King to get that try just on half time was a big game-changing moment.

“I thought there was reasonable footy played.

“Wakefield had a lot to play for with it being their last game of the season so it’s good to come away with a win and no injuries.

“It's always difficult coming down to Wakefield.

“We had a number of defensive sets on our goalline in the first half and they scored two tries.

“But I was pleased to go in at half time 13-12.

“The boys felt we were always in control of the game even though we only had one yardage kick for them to come out of their end of the field.

“We addressed that at half time and I was really pleased with the second half to come away with 33 points scored.

“Psychologically, it can be difficult knowing you've got a semi final to play for next week, knowing that it's a dead rubber.

“I understand we've got to keep improving, keep evolving, but I'm sure the other three (semi-final) teams were along the same lines.

“We're excited we got through unscathed, no injuries, and the guys are really excited about St Helens next Thursday now.”