Wire fan Rob Watson provides his reflections on the Wire win against St Helens in the spirit of '55

STEFAN Ratchford missing that simple conversion was a sure sign that it is going to be a long hard season for Wire, with a relegation fight looming.

Sorry – I had to give the pessimistic fans something to hang on to from this match and that is about all I could think of.

Despite the defeat at Wigan the previous week most fans seemed encouraged by the performance.

That positivity looked well placed as Wire started where they left off against Wigan.

Once again, they looked the fitter and faster of the two teams on show.

For the first half an hour or so it was looking like a classic arm wrestle in that neither team were giving much away.

One big difference was Wire’s willingness to offload the ball far more than Saints.

Those offloads and Wire’s higher levels of enthusiasm and energy enabled them to get the upper hand.

Daryl Clark’s classic hooker's try from close range to open the scoring was a sign of a team that was gradually getting on top.

The next try was a good example of Wire’s new more carefree style of play.

The last-tackle kick was one they could challenge for, Ben Currie won the aerial contest and managed to bat the ball back to Ratchford who did well to gather and keep the ball alive.

If Toby King and Tom Lineham weren’t alert to the possibility of the play continuing, that would have been where it ended.

Ratchford was able to produce an offload to King who then sent Lineham on his way to crash over.

Blake Austin’s drop goal with less than a minute left of the half showed that there could still be composure among the new wonderfully chaotic playing style.

Another feature of this performance was of forwards passing the ball, which brings about so many more possibilities and makes defending against that team significantly more difficult.

This was highlighted beautifully with the third and final try coming from a majestic handling move to the right which featured passes from Matt Davis, Mike Cooper and Ben Murdoch-Masila.

Josh Charnley had done well to get back into position in time to be on the end of that move after almost being involved in a scuffle in the middle of the pitch just moments before.

Matty Ashton again looked like an exciting prospect, showing on a few occasions that he can pass the ball as well as run, especially when he delivered the final pass to Charnley for that try.

In the two games so far it is a noticeable difference that players anywhere near the ball are pushing up in support much more than they did last season.

It looked like Wire ran the legs off Saints, who couldn't handle the speed and ball movement of this new playing style.

The challenge now for Wire is to maintain those levels of energy and enthusiasm in every game, including ones where they are expected to win and or go behind on the scoreboard.

Players look leaner and faster than last year, and I don’t think that is only down to the slimming effect of the V on the new shirts.

Critics might say we potentially look a little lightweight in the pack compared to some Super League teams.

From the last couple of games though I would say that Warrington might well have their very own ‘Legion of Boom’, led by Murdoch-Masila and Sitaleki Akauola and ably supported by Joe Philbin and Cooper.

Saints are a team that have dominated the last two years of Super League, largely due to bullying teams down the middle.

As was the case at Wembley last year and the play-off semi final the previous year, Wire once again showed they can stand up to the biggest bully in the playground.

If Saints really are Super, then perhaps Wire are Kryptonite.

I always like to look for something to improve on, but I’m really struggling after that. All I can think of is can someone get Ashton a better pair of boots so he doesn’t slip over quite so often?