Wakefield Trinity 33 St Helens 32: Agar eyes play-off assault after extending winning run

Indeed, Agar has already set his sights on planning towards next week’s crucial game against eighth-placed Hull KR.

“Eighth spot is up for grabs, for sure,” Agar said. “I don’t look at the table too much but I’m aware of our points tally and where we are in the league.

“Hull KR is without question the biggest game of the season next week, but even if we win that, we’ve still got to win some more games after it, but momentum is with us, and we’ve put ourselves in with a real shout of getting into that top eight.”

Yesterday’s game appeared to be destined for a draw with the sides locked at 32-32, but Paul Sykes slotted the crucial drop-goal right on the hooter for the jubilant home side.

Lee Smith and Danny Kirmond scored two tries apiece for the hosts, but Saints responded with Francis Meli’s hat-trick and Paul Wellens’s double.

That saw them claw back a deficit which had at one point reached 14 points, but it was all in vain as Sykes had the final say.

Agar was also pleased with the attitude and form of his side as they knocked off yet another higher-placed opponent in a superb run of form.

“I’m delighted with four wins on the bounce, especially as we’ve played some of the best sides in the competition,” he said. “It was a tremendous example of our courage and character when at times the game looked like it would slip away from us.”

St Helens coach Mike Rush, meanwhile, was far from pleased with the result or the performance of referee Thierry Alibert.

He launched a scathing attack on the French official before then turning on his own side.

Rush was highly critical of Alibert, while also reserving praise for the Wildcats.

“Taking nothing away from Wakefield, they’re in great form and deserved the win, but I’m sick of being involved in games like that when he’s refereeing,” Rush said. “He kills us. Every time we’ve had Thierry Alibert in a game this year we’ve ended up in situations like that: games with no control about them. I appreciate I’m going to get in trouble for it, but every time we have this guy, he hammers the game.”

Rush also took time to criticise his own troops as they slipped to a second successive defeat in the race for the top positions in the Super League ladder.

“I didn’t think we were great. Sometimes you can judge enthusiasm and mental state on your kick chases, and ours were poor,” Rush said. “They worked that littler bit harder and wanted it a little bit more than us.”

Wakefield Trinity: Mathers, Fox, Cowling, L. Smith, Cockayne, Sykes, T. Smith, Amor, Ellis, Raleigh, Lauitiiti, Kirmond, Washbrook. Substitutes: Wood, Wilkes, Mariano, Johnson.

St Helens: Wellens, Makinson, Shenton, J. Jones, Meli, Hohaia, Lomax, Perry, Roby, Laffranchi, Puletua, Flannery, Flanagan. Substitutes: McCarthy-Scarsbrook, Clough, Dixon, Gaskell.

Referee: T Alibert (Toulouse).