Second travelled the short journey to fourth as Warrington Wolves looked to get within two points of the league leaders against a St Helens side who came into the game on the back of three consecutive losses and in danger of dropping to sixth by the end of the weekend and losing four on the bounce for the first time in six years.
The home side were slight favourites with the bookies for a win but with just a two-point handicap on the coupon it promised to be the tightest of games at the end of a sweltering day as summer arrived.
Warrington won the only encounter between the two sides in 2024, eliminating Saints from the Challenge Cup at the quarter final stage, but you have to go back to June 2021 to find the last Warrington victory in a Super League encounter.
The opening points came on four minutes, from the boot of Warrington skipper Stefan Ratchford, after Saints had been penalised at the scrum ten metres inside their own half.
Four minutes later, again following Saints indiscipline, the Wolves were in for the opening try as Matty Ashton scored in the left corner after running ten metres and diving over off a Ratchford pass. The skipper was just wide of the near post with his conversion attempt, the Wolves with a 6-0 lead.
Warrington were ripping Saints apart when they went over again on thirteen Matt Dufty hitting a gap thirty metres from the line and outpacing the red vee defence to score under the sticks. Ratchford was on target this time, the Wolves twelve ahead.
On nineteen a shoulder to the head with no mitigation cost James Harrison the rest of the game as he saw the referee’s red card. Saints thrown a lifeline with a man advantage for the remaining hour.
Saints had a try ruled out on twenty-one after a double knock-on, but Saints were making the additional man advantage count.
Ratchford was helped from the field on twenty-nine sporting a bloody nose and blackened eye from a particularly ferocious collision, the situation going from bad to worse for the visitors, but despite the Saints onslaught Warrington carried their twelve-point lead into the interval.
Three consecutive sets of six at the start of the second half finally saw Saints get their first try, Agnatius Paasi dragging the Warrington defenders with him and grounding on the line under the sticks. Mark Percival added a simple conversion, Saints back within six and the game was well and truly on.
Jonny Lomax went close on fifty-four and on the next play Matty Nicholson obstructed off the ball and was sin-binned, Saints with a penalty on the Wolves line, the visitors down to eleven men.
Somehow the Wolves held their line with sensational defence in the face of continuous Saints pressure. On sixty-seven Sam Royle, on off the bench, found space on the overlap to go in for the second try of the afternoon as Nicholson readied for his return. Percival was wide with the conversion, Saints still two behind.
With nine minutes remaining Warrington somehow scrambled the winning try with Adam Holroyd sliding over the line after Warrington engineered a two on one overlap. Josh Drinkwater was wide with the conversion attempt, the lead six points with seven minutes remaining.
The icing on the cake came on seventy-four when Nicholson chased a pinpoint George Williams grubber kick to the Saints in goal, grounding the ball one-handed as the Saints defenders scrambled to cover back. Drinkwater added the conversion for 22-10, a stunning win for the dirty dozen.
Warrington ran the clock down in the dying seconds with a Drinkwater penalty for a final score of 24-10, a brilliant and battling win.
Warrington did it tough, a man down for an hour, and without their skipper who failed a head assessment in the first half. Their defensive effort fully deserved the win and the two points which lifts Warrington to within two points of the Wigan Warriors at the top of the table. For Saints it is an almost unheard of, fourth consecutive loss as they drift towards the centre of the table and away from the prime play off places.
St Helens: Robertson, Ritson, Percival (1/1 G), Vaughan, Blake, Welsby, Lomax, Paasi (T), Clark, Lees, Sironen, Bell, Mbye. Subs: Bennison, Dodd, Royle (T), Stephens. 18th Man: Dagnall.
Warrington Wolves: Dufty (T), Lindop, Tai, Ratchford (2/3 G), Ashton (T), Williams, Drinkwater (1/2 G), Harrison (SO on 19), Powell, Vaughan, Nicholson (T, SB on 54), Holroyd (T), Currie. Subs: Musgrove, Yates, Walker, Whitehead. 18th Man: Wood.
Half-Time: 0-12.
Full-Time: 10-24.
Score Progression: 0-2, 0-6, 0-10, 0-12, (SO) :HT: 4-12, 6-12, (SB), 10-12, 10-16, 10-20, 10-22, 10-24 :FT.
Lead Exchanges: Warrington.
Referee: Chris Kendall.
