Warrington Wolves 32 Wakefield Trinity 30: John goes so close to rewarding Wakefield’s endeavours

The Wolves would have been forced to settle for a draw if Isaac John had not been narrowly short with a touchline conversion attempt to Vince Mellars’s try six minutes from time.

Smith, whose side trailed until the hour, said: “Wakefield were terrific and out-enthused us. They will no doubt feel a bit aggrieved although I thought we deserved to win.

“They have had a big turnaround of players and coaches and played with plenty of spirit.”

Wildcats’ coach Richard Agar, whose side have now lost five games in a row, said: “The most disappointing thing was Simon Grix’s try on the seventh tackle. That was a bitter pill to swallow.

“We lost Danny Kirmond with a nasty facial cut and a bit of concussion and had to shuffle round a bit.

“Warrington are a very good side but this was a great performance by us.

“Most people expect us to finish bottom or next to bottom but we are playing some good football and this was no fluke.

“We are heading in the right direction and Kyle Wood had a good impact off the bench.

“Sometimes games are matters of inches and Isaac’s conversion attempt was only inches short.”

The Wolves welcomed back Chris Bridge from suspension and Michael Monaghan from injury, with 17-year-old hooker Brad Dwyer making his debut off the bench midway through the first half.

But Stefan Ratchford, Garreth Carvell and suspended Mickey Higham joined Brett Hodgson, David Solomona and Ben Harrison on the sidelines.

Wakefield had Paul Aiton and Kyle Amor back and took a shock fifth-minute lead. A poor pass from Michael Monaghan allowed Wakefield to press with John slipping Richie Myler’s tackle for Danny Washbrook to stroll over. John landed the conversion.

Warrington levelled on the back of three successive penalties with Trent Waterhouse charging through John, Peter Fox and Danny Kirmond to give Ryan Atkins a walk-in try against his old club with Lee Briers adding the goal.

Kyle Wood robbed Atkins of possession and sendt Isaac John diving over to stretch the lead to 12-6 after 24 minutes.

On the half hour ex-Wolves full-back Richie Mathers dummied his way over with John adding his third conversion.

Myler’s try from Ben Cooper’s pass cut the gap to 18-12, but the scrum-half missed a chance to grab a second try when he fumbled the ball over the line.

Wakefield stretched the interval lead to 20-12 with John’s penalty when Paul Wood was sin-binned for a high tackle on Paul Johnson.

Warrington overcame the handicap, Myler racing clear for his second try almost straight from the restart but Briers missed the kick.

Wolves’ joy was shortlived with Ali Lauitiiti charging over, John maintaining his 100 per cent record with the boot to extend the lead to 26-16. Briers was then provider for Ben Westwood to reduce the arrears to 26-22. Wolves went ahead for the first time on the hour when Myler’s kick rebounded off a defender for Grix to touch down, Briers adding the goal to make it 28-26.

Joel Monaghan scored in the corner to extend the lead to 32-26 but Mellars crossed in the corner only for John to narrowly miss the conversion attempt.

Warrington Wolves: Riley, J Monaghan, C Bridge, Atkins, Williams, Briers, Myler, Morley, M Monaghan, Hill, Waterhouse, Westwood, Grix. Substitutes: Wood, Cooper, Blythe, Dwyer.

Wakefield Trinity Wildcats: Mathers, Fox, Kirmond, Mellars, Cockayne, John, Smith, Raleigh, Aiton, Amor, Southern, Lauitiiti, Washbrook. Substitutes: Wood, Wilkes, Johnson, Walshaw.

Referee: Thierry Alibert (France).