By CALLUM INSULL
IT’S BEEN an average start to the 2018 campaign for Warrington as they’ve been looking to turn around their fortunes after a torrid 2017 season.
After seven games under new coach Steve Price they had won three and lost four – obviously not a brilliant record having played the most games out of the entire league.
An unbeaten Wakefield side came to the Halliwell Jones to attempt to keep their glorious record going. The game began fast from the home side with Tom Lineham getting onto the scoresheet putting the Wire 4-0 ahead.
A quick reply from Chris Chester’s men meant that the teams were 4-4 on 11 minutes. Some good passing along the line from the Wire showed the ball to Lineham and he went over in style for his second of the game, with Bryson Goodwin converting. That put the score to 10-4 in Warrington’s favour.
A penalty kick put through the sticks by Goodwin gave Price’s men a bit of breathing space with the score now 12-4. That advantage was to be short-lived as Trinity scored two tries with Bill Tupou cutting deep through the unfocused Wire defence for one and Liam Finn posting the second.
Finn failed to convert Tupou ’s try but add the extras to his own that made the score 12-14. Goodwin had a glorious opportunity to level the scores going into the interval but couldn’t take it and Trinity still held the lead.
That was how the first half ended, a solid attacking display from both sides but each coaches knew work was still to be done if his team was to gain the two competition points. As the players came out for the second forty, Warrington knew it would take a lot of defensive focus to shut out a strong Wakefield team.
One minute into the second half and goal kicker-turned-tryscorer Goodwin ran through off some good passing work from full back Stefan Ratchford to score; that took the score to 18-14 with the try being converted by Ratchford.
Another set and another try, Mike Cooper pouncing on a grubber kick which deflected back off the post; converted again 24-14, now a 10-point ball game.
At this point in the game it would have took a lot for Chris Chester’s players to come back. An explosive run through the entire Wakefield team saw Ben Murdoch-Masila score his third try in two games as the Wire extended their lead to 14 points.
There was a glimmer of hope with Tom Johnstone going over in the corner for the visitors but with a penalty kick by Stefan Ratchford which made it 10 points the difference at most. Trinity were down and out.
A lapse in concentration from the home team gave former Salford winger Ben Jones-Bishop the chance to sneak in and sneak in he did, the try not converted but that try was only a consolation in terms of the scoreline.
It was a fourth win of the season, though, for Price and the Warrington Wolves against a highly acclaimed Wakefield Trinity side who by some thoughts will be fighting for a place in the top four come round 23.
A thought now on Ben Westwood on his 400th Super league appearance. He told Warrington Wolves’ social media channels that “things are turning round now and clicking into place so just stick with us and enjoy the ride”.
Price said: “It was the first time we’ve scored that amount of points this season so we can draw a lot of positives and confidence out of that”.
So it was a big win for Warrington in terms of keeping up with the pack, with Castleford, Hull, St Helens and Wigan all getting wins.
Next up for the Wolves the busy Easter weekend with games at home to Widnes in the derby and away to Castleford on Easter Monday.
