FT: Wakefield Trinity 26 Warrington Wolves 12

Wakefield Trinity broke their three-game losing streak with a precious 26-12 success against visitors Warrington Wolves.
Chris Chester and his Wakefield Trinity side face Warrington.Chris Chester and his Wakefield Trinity side face Warrington.
Chris Chester and his Wakefield Trinity side face Warrington.

Hooker Kyle Wood was impressive for the hosts, setting up one try and scoring another and five-goal Liam Finn also had a strong game.

Trinity defended well in a dour encounter and deserved a the victory which keeps them firmy in the hunt for a top-four place at the end of the regular season.

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With Catalans Dragons winning at home to Leigh Centurions, Warrington have slipped a place to 10th and look certain to be facing a relegation battle in the middle-eights Qualifiers which begin next month.

Wakefield deservedly led 14-6 at the break, despite conceding the opening try.

Finn’s penalty began the scoring, but Warrington went ahead after 13 minutes when Brad Dwyer dummied over from acting-half and Stefan Ratchford converted.

At the start of the second quarter Wood got an offload out to Bill Tupou who went over for the equalising try and Finn added the extras before extending the lead with his second penalty goal.

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Warrington’s Pata Hiku - making his debut after signing from Penrith Panthers - dropped the ball over the Trinity line and Wakefield wasted a golden opportunity when Reece Lyne pounced on a fumble by Kevin Penny. Ben Jones-Bishop was unmarked on his outside and would have had a walk-in, but the pass was off-target.

Two minutes before the break Jones-Bishop got better service, going over from Sam Williams’ cut-out pass and Trinity could have increased their advantage when Lyne broke clear, but Ratchford snuffed out the danger.

There was a long stoppage early in the second half following an injury to Warrington’s 18-year-old full-back Will Dagger, who is from Pontefract. He was taken off on a stretcher.

Trinity handled the delay better and scored soon afterwards when Wood dummied over from acting-half, Finn’s conversion making it 20-6.

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Keegan Hirst was sin-binned for dangerous contact with Daryl Clark on 53 minutes. That was the first of four successive penalties to Warrington, leading to a team warning for Trinity and a Chris Hill try, which Ratchford converted, from Kurt Gidley’s pass.

Trinity were placed on a second team warning 12 minutes after their first. They twice turned down two points from kickable penalties and were rewarded six minutes from time when Dean Hadley sent Mason Caton-Brown over and Finn added the extras to complete the scoring.