Wolves shake off Saints

King pays a painful price for his try

Warrington beat St Helens 35-28 in a rollercoaster contest to go two points clear at the Super League summit.

The Wolves raced into an 18-0 lead, were pegged back and trailed 22-18 at the break, then scored three more quickfire tries to claim a first Super League double over St Helens.

In fact this was Warrington's first home win over Saints since a 2001 success at Wilderspool, and they may finally feel they have shrugged off their rivals' 'bogey-team' tag.

The Wolves went 18-0 up after just 12 minutes, as St Helens looked as sloppy as they had in last week's home defeat by Wigan.

Less than 60 seconds were on the clock when Lee Gaskell took too long over a clearance and Michael Monaghan charged down the kick, hacked on and outpaced Paul Wellens to score.

Gaskell's miserable start continued as he knocked on deep in the Warrington half and after back-to-back penalties, Rhys Williams crossed in the corner.

Saints forced two drop-outs and a penalty, but their chance of a quick srike back was gone when James Graham lost the ball on the first tackle.

They quickly paid a high price as Lee Briers' crossfield kick was brilliantly taken by King, who suffered a painful knock in twisting and touching down.

Brett Hodgson kicked his third conversion - one from in front and one from each touchline - for an 18-0 lead.

Powerful

It was Graham who got Saints back into the match with a typically powerful burst to score from first receiver, and after brilliant offloads from Chris Flannery and Jonny Lomax, Gaskell raced in.

Lomax and Francis Meli then combined to put Foster in at the corner, although his third conversion attempt was wide.

Nevertheless, Saints were now dominating and after three penalties Graham's offload to Tony Puletua gave the visitors the lead for the first time.

Had Saints stretched their lead following James Roby's 40-20 kick shortly after the break, they may well have gone on to win.

But Lomax lost the ball in the first tackle and after Graham conceded a penalty, Ben Westwood took Briers' short pass and scored despite a juggle as he crossed the line.

Now the Wolves were rampant once again and Richie Myler's offload put Paul Wood in and after Foster's kick-off went out on the full, Hodgson cut inside to score.

There was to be no second comeback from Saints. Puletua's second try gave them a glimmer of hope, but Briers' 40-metre drop-goal settled any Warrington nerves and they held on for a morale-boosting win.