THEY only led for a little longer than a minute, but it was enough for Wolves…just.

When David Fifita dropped the ball late on, there seemed a certain inevitability about the resulting set ending with a dramatic Warrington winner.

Tom Lineham was the hero to allow The Wire to record their fourth win in a row and demonstrate that something they do not lack is character.

The win did not look likely either as they trailed 20-6 approaching the midway point of the second half.

Pretty much from the off, Wakefield looked dangerous with the ball and regularly punched holes in a creaky Wire defence.

Ashley Gibson and Mason Caton-Brown were early beneficiaries of Wolves’ generosity and they very quickly found themselves 12-0 down.

The Wolves of four weeks ago may not have recovered from such a poor start, and there were signs their old ways were starting to creep back in.

On at least three occasions, Tony Smith’s side were guilty of knock-ons at the play-the-ball and you could sense the crowd’s frustration at their continuing inability to execute basic skills.

Ryan Atkins’ brilliant solo try got them off their feet, but Liam Finn’s penalty and Tom Johnstone’s try either side of the break meant Wakefield kept them at arm’s length.

Johnstone’s try came from another Wolves error from their first set of the second half and it looked set to sink them.

However, The Wire seem to have developed a belligerence that, for now, is seeing them through.

An epitome of that was Chris Hill’s try. In what was possibly his best game since coming back from injury, the Wire captain powered by refusing to be halted by four Wakefield defenders.

Another injury returnee, Kevin Brown, got Smith’s side even closer by fooling the defence with a trademark dummy. Now, Wolves were in business.

Andre Savelio gave them boundless energy off the bench and, for the first time in the game, Wolves had real momentum.

Wakefield kept them out for most of a frantic final ten minutes, but Lineham had the last say with the diving finish in the corner that is becoming his trademark.

Like their Easter wins over Widnes and Huddersfield, it was far from pretty but, in their situation, Wolves cannot afford to be picky.

INTERESTING NOTES:

. The Wire currently boast the longest unbeaten run in Super League (5 games)

. Chris Hill and Kevin Brown both score their first Super League tries of the season.

MATCH FACTS:

Super League Round 11, Saturday, April 22, 2017

Warrington Wolves…22 Wakefield Trinity…20

Wolves: Stefan Ratchford; Rhys Evans, Harvey Livett, Ryan Atkins, Tom Lineham; Dec Patton, Kurt Gidley; Chris Hill, Brad Dwyer, Ashton Sims, Benjamin Jullien, Jack Hughes, Joe Westerman. Subs: Joe Philbin, Kevin Brown, George King, Andre Savelio.

Trinity: Max Jowitt; Ben Jones-Bishop, Ashley Gibson, Mason Caton-Brown, Tom Johnstone; Jacob Miller, Liam Finn; Anthony England, Kyle Wood, David Fifita, Dean Hadley, Danny Kirmond, Tinirau Arona. Subs: Sam Williams, James Batchelor, Keegan Hirst, Craig Huby.

Scoring: Gibson try, 8mins, Finn goal, 0-6; Caton-Brown try, 10mins, Finn goal, 0-12; Atkins try, 22mins, Patton goal, 6-12; Finn penalty, 37mins, 6-14; Johnstone try, 46mins, Finn goal, 6-20; Hill try, 55mins, Patton goal, 12-20; Brown try, 69mins, Patton goal, 18-20; Lineham try, 78mins, 22-20.

Penalties: Wolves 7 Trinity 8.

Referee: Ben Thaler.

Attendance: 9,152.

Man of the match (live blog fan’s poll): Ryan Atkins.