JOSH McGuire said he was impressed with Warrington Wolves’ second-half performance as they defeated Hull KR 21-14 to go four points clear at the top of Super League.

The Wire fell 12-0 behind but never panicked and came good to deliver what was needed at the right time to seal a tough contest against the third-placed side at The Halliwell Jones Stadium.

Matty Ashton crossed in the corner for a decisive try before George Williams’ drop-goal gave his side an all-important seven-point lead that was never lost.

Former Australia Test forward McGuire, whose first try for the club had reduced the deficit to six points at the break, said it was a tough game – his first for the side in the back row as he switched from the middle to cover the absence of injured Matty Nicholson.

“We probably started a little bit slowly, probably starting to push things a little bit too early,” he said.

“We've got a highly skilful team and you don't want to rein them in but you do want to stick to your processes, especially early in the game.

“We started with a bit of energy, but we probably pushed a little bit and then gave away a couple of penalties or ‘six agains’ which hurt us out of the backfield.

“But coming in at 12-6 at half time, we knew we’ve got enough class in our side if we could just get back to basics and strike back first in the second-half that we could make a real game out of it and I was really impressed with our second-half - just that control to go tick for tock with them and come away with it.

“I know we've got a bit of class in there with people like Matt Dufty, George Williams, Josh Drinkwater, Matty Ashton and Matty Russell, so we’ve got a bit of strike.

“I think ‘Drinky’ and George really complement each other well. George is just such a highly talented gunslinger. And Josh is a really composed figure at half back.

“It was a good win and exactly what we needed leading into the Challenge Cup game against Catalans Dragons.”

Of course, it is not the first time The Wire have had to fight back from behind to achieve a win this season.

“We've had to win from different scenarios early in the year,” said McGuire.

“We came in against Salford 20 points down but the boys showed resilience to come back so we've had to show different facets of the game that we can win from different positions.

“We’re quite a good front-running team and when it's going our way we like that but I think it was just pretty classy from some of our boys to really just find a bit of extra.

“And I thought Joe Philbin was fantastic from the bench. I think our bench come on really well. Seeing Sam Kasiano and the others showing a bit of grit just changed the momentum of the game, especially in that first half which really gave us that foundation.

“There was a couple of tired boys in there like Paul Vaughan, who is a bit sore, but he's been fantastic. He's been a Colossus for us this whole start to the year so it's good to see the other boys sharing the load.”

At 12-0 down there was an opportunity for the Robins to score but McGuire made a crucial last-ditch tackle in front of the posts on Elliot Minchella to prevent Rovers’ early dominance showing even higher on the scoreboard.

McGuire said: “We’re trying to build a culture here of just turning up and working hard for your mate. I was just lucky that the old legs got there in the end.

“I'm just happy that we won the game. It was a crucial point for us. We lost to Saints and we weren't too good in the Wigan game and then the Wakefield performance wasn't a strong performance to our standards so we needed to really hit back just for our own confidence.”

He was pleased to get over the line for his first Wire try, responding quickly to a little grubber kick from hooker Danny Walker to touch the ball down over the line.

“I always say it's easier to score when you're standing out wide on the edge,” he said.

“I was just lucky to get there. Danny saw something and he put the kick through and I just kind of reacted, so the old legs just got there but I'll take it. I'll tell my kids it came from a 50-metre run.”