Huddersfield 32 Warrington 22: Giants show ability to win ugly against vulnerable Wolves

The Giants are capable of putting sides to the sword but all that mattered on Saturday afternoon was the two competition points.

In the continued absence of the likes of Tui Lolohea, Ricky Leutele and Chris Hill, Huddersfield simply had to find a way on the back of three defeats in four matches.

It was a worrying set of results for a Giants outfit with title aspirations but Ian Watson's side are nothing if not dogged.

Back home after seven weeks on the road, Huddersfield found themselves chasing the game against a Warrington Wolves team not yet safe from relegation.

But Daryl Powell's men have a habit of collapsing under pressure and the Giants were good enough to take advantage of their vulnerabilities.

The game turned on Joe Bullock's yellow card for a professional foul with Huddersfield scoring twice in his absence.

Will Pryce, who came up with several errors on a difficult afternoon, put the Giants ahead for the first time after 70 minutes to underline his value to Watson's team when he gets it right.

The gutsy 32-22 win cements Huddersfield's place in the top four and sets up an exciting finish to the season with four home games still to come.

But for a long period, it looked as if their recent poor form was going to continue.

Debutant Matt Dufty and on-loan Giants centre Jake Wardle were in the spotlight and they delivered for Warrington inside the opening five minutes.

Errors from Huddersfield invited the Wire into home territory and they were punished, Dufty finding the perfect pass to allow Wardle to score against his parent club.

Stefan Ratchford added the extras from out wide and then knocked over a penalty after the hosts were caught offside to give Warrington an 8-0 lead with only nine minutes on the clock.

It was a scrappy start by the off-colour Giants, epitomised by Pryce sending a restart out on the full to gift the Wolves perfect field position to win the penalty.

Pryce set about atoning for his error, stepping his way through only to be caught high by Kyle Amor five metres from the tryline.

The Wire prop avoided a card and the penalty came to nothing to add to Huddersfield's frustration.

When they found a way through on 22 minutes, the try owed to a slice of fortune after Warrington failed to deal with Theo Fages' scruffy kick.

Ashton Golding was the beneficiary, finishing out wide to give the Giants a foothold in the game.

But, after seeing Oliver Russell's touchline conversion rebound off a post, Huddersfield were unable to build on their breakthrough.

Watson's men were guilty of letting their frustration get the better of them after finding themselves on the wrong end of a series of contentious calls.

Ratchford sent over a second penalty following an offside call and made it three when the Giants were penalised for a ball steal and then dissent.

In between penalties, Fages collided with Pryce attempting to escape his in-goal area to sum up Huddersfield's struggles.

The Giants needed a lift before half-time and Adam O'Brien provided it, going himself from dummy-half two minutes from the interval.

Russell added the extras to leave Huddersfield 12-10 behind and very much in the match despite a below-par first-half display.

The game was there to be won against a Warrington side fresh from an eighth defeat in 10 games but the Giants were in a generous mood.

Matty Ashton picked off a pass from Pryce on the halfway line to race 50 metres to touch down and it had the feel of one of those days for Huddersfield when the full-back sent another restart out on the full.

The Giants got back in it thanks to a smart piece of play by Golding, the winger putting Josh Jones over from Fages' short-side kick.

But they found themselves eight points behind again after Ashton helped himself to a second try in the corner.

The turning point came just after the hour mark when Bullock was sin-binned for taking out Owen Trout chasing a kick into the in-goal area.

The Wire prop could only watch on as Huddersfield made the most of their one-man advantage to snatch the game from the visitors' grasp.

Innes Senior flew over in the corner to break Warrington's resistance and the Giants had the lead for the first time when Pryce jinked his way through to touch down.

Bullock returned to find the game had gone, Trout making sure of a much-needed victory for Huddersfield with a powerful finish.

Huddersfield Giants: Pryce, Golding, Jones, King, Senior, Russell, Fages, Wilson, O'Brien, Trout, Hewitt, McQueen, Yates.

Substitutes: English, Greenwood, Ashworth, Levi.

Warrington Wolves: Dufty, Minikin, Wrench, Wardle, Ashton, Mata'utia, Ratchford, Amor, Clark, Mulhern, Currie, Nicholson, Clark.

Substitutes: Holmes, Bullock, Mikaele, Harrison.

Referee: Tom Grant.