Firwood Waterloo 31 Warrington 3

A FRUSTRATING afternoon for Warrington at Waterloo can only get better.

Andy Roberts' men provided little in the way of a contest on a glorious day and excellent pitch that had provided for a fast and exciting encounter that in the end proved to be a one-way affair.

Warrington had not read the script as they fell to their fourth North One West loss of the year, while Waterloo climbed to third.

“Full credit to Waterloo,” said Roberts.

“They upped their game and ours dropped alarmingly. There’s very little we can take away from this."

Roberts wants his side to move on quickly though and be ready for the visit of struggling Salford side De La Salle on Saturday.

"We must re-think our approach. One poor performance doesn’t make us a poor team. We must improve when we play De La Salle,” added Roberts.

The pattern at Waterloo was set early on when Warrington opened the game smoothly enough but then decided to kick the ball away to their opponents.

This ushered in a long period of Waterloo pressure but Warrington’s excellent defence at that stage confined the home side to a converted try.

In their best period of the game, Warrington pressed the Waterloo line without being able to breach well organised resistance.

Beesley, who threatened whenever he got the ball, nearly scored in the corner but the away side had to settle for a Norman penalty.

Only Waterloo responded to the half-time exhortations.

Warrington certainly produced the worst 40 minutes they have managed for a long time.

Whereas Waterloo were all bustle and pace, Warrington were strangely subdued.

Tries came in a 20-minute burst from the home side, playing with confidence and following the lead of their half backs and an impressive back row.

Warrington’s line-out creaked, in-hand kicking was poor, passes went astray and players and supporters were both longing for the full-time whistle.

Even in the last five minutes when Warrington finally laid siege to the Waterloo line, their attack panicked.

A final inept piece of play left Warrington 'tryless' for the first time in several seasons.