Magnificent 7 Drops In To Take Wolves To Victory

A late Lee Briers drop goal was just enough to give Wolves a 25 -24 victory over title rivals Hull FC this afternoon at the Halliwell Jones Stadium. Greg Spruce reports

A late Lee Briers drop goal was just enough to give Wolves a 25 -24 victory over title rivals Hull FC this afternoon at the Halliwell Jones Stadium.

Time and time again Wolves talisman Lee Briers has been able to deliver the goods and steer his side to victory with today further confirming Briers' legendary status amongst Wolves followers in this his testimonial year. ' He is a very focused individual and we are very glad we have got him, more often than not he delivers, it took a great piece of composure and skill from him to kick the drop goal', stated a proud Wolves Head Coach, Paul Cullen.

It was a greatly improved performance on last week, but Warrington did make it difficult for themselves with their indiscipline in parts ensuring they spent a lot of the game defending their line. 'We will take the two points that we have earned today, but we will ground ourselves pretty quickly. I think we are duty bound as a group not to except that as the best we can be' we are disappointed with our discipline, I think in the last two years we have been the most disciplined side in Superleague ' we have given away too many penalties today for our liking, it's cost us field position and it's cost us energy'.

After a week of supporters picking over the bones of last weeks 36-20 defeat at the hands of Bradford on message boards and in pubs and workplaces, it was a relief that we could finally let the players do the talking on the field and answer their critics.

Paul Cullen's side was notably stronger with the return of Saints capture Vinnie Anderson and international Centre Martin Gleeson. Hull Captain, Paul Cooke, returned for the Black and Whites, but there was no return for former Wolves favourite 'Super' Sid Domic, who missed out through injury.

The Hull side began in a very determined mood with some huge hits flying in from forwards Gareth Carvell and Ewan Dowes and they were celebrated with much backslapping every time it resulted in a knock on, as was seen when a huge hit dislodged the ball from Michael Sullivan's grasp. Not to be overshadowed, Wolves' Ben Westwood placed a huge hit on Vinnie Anderson's sparring partner, Danny Tickle, to force the Hull Second Rower to spill the ball in the tackle.

Wolves found themselves down to 12 on 15 minutes when Paul Rauhihi was given 10 minutes for dissent after a 'discussion' with referee Steve Ganson following a dispute over a penalty call. With the Wolves at a numerical disadvantage, Hull pounced with Whiting flying over in the corner following good work from Hull Halfbacks Paul Cooke and Richard Horne. Returning skipper Cooke added the extras taking Hull into a 6-0 lead after 16 minutes.

Normally steadfast under the high ball, Wolves full back Stuart Reardon missed a huge Cooke up and under in front of his own sticks, with the ball running loose Tickle attempted to crash over, but Reardon pulled off a wonder tackle to stop Tickle. From the resulting play the ball, Hull's very own Mohammed Ali, Lee Radford, dived over and Cooke again tagged on the 2 points to double his sides lead.

Warrington were twelve points down and knew they could not afford to fall any further behind. They got themselves on the scoreboard with Mike Sullivan scoring the cheekiest of tries, picking the ball up just a few metres short of the FC line, fooling the Hull defence with an outrageous dummy and scooting over, Briers added the extras.

Warrington were back over the Hull whitewash a mere four minutes later when Briers gladly accepted a Jon Clarke drop off and he stepped his way over to bring his side within two points, he could not convert his own effort, leaving Wolves trailing 10 ' 12.

However following Hull indiscipline he was given the opportunity to bring Wolves level on the stroke of half time and he gladly booted over the two, with a little help from Clarke's finger.

Warrington started the second half very brightly and had notably tightened up their game, in particularly Sullivan whose impressive darts from the dummy half position kept the Hull side back peddling.

It took only 7 minutes of the second forty for Wolves to further increase their lead when a Briers line break found Martin Gleeson who sent Jon Clarke clear on the inside who stumbled, rolled, wriggled and finally reaching out to ground the ball and send the 'Barmy Army' into raptures. This time captain Briers made no mistake with the boot.

Wolves took the score to 22- 12, when Vinnie Anderson marked his return from injury by gladly accepting a Gleeson cut out pass and diving in the corner, to finish a Warrington set of six that began with an intercept from Anderson on the Hull 40 metre line. Briers conversion attempt sailed agonisingly wide.

Warrington now looked to be firmly in control coming back from 12-0 down to be 22-12 ahead with an hour of the game gone but Peter Sharp's men are a quality outfit and the rather hushed atmosphere amongst the Wolves supporters suggested they felt their was more to come from the Humbersiders; and they were not wrong.

Following Hull pressure on the Wolves try line, former Castleford and Wigan favourite Wayne Godwin fed a simple pass to Gareth Raynor who used his pace and power to dive over in the corner on 67 minutes. A monster conversion from the touchline from Cooke saw him take his side back within six points of the Wolves.

As the game went in to its final 10 minutes, Briers keen to replicate his Play Off performance at Leeds last year attempted a drop goal, but the ball this time stayed the wrong side of the uprights.

Hull desperate for an equaliser were now camped inside the Wolves half of the field and were reminiscent of the Harlem Globetrotters with their desperate but fanciful offloads, used in an attempt to bring themselves level. Wolves scrambling defence was holding strong, but something had to give and it did when in the 74th minute impressive wingman, Matt Sing, finally found enough space to dance his way over the line and bring his side level following Cooke's conversion.

The game was poised for a grandstand finish and boy had the supporters of Warrington seen some of these over recent years. The game was poised and right on cue, up stepped Briers who received the ball on the 4th tackle following a Wolves drive to the line and coolly booted over a sweet one pointer from 25 meters out at the second time of asking.

Warrington were able to hold on despite some last ditch drives from the Hull pack and took two points that 20 minutes in looked more likely to be heading over to the East coast.

Notably the desire to win from Warrington and the ability to come back and beat last year's Grand Finalists in a stop -start but always enthralling contest, showed many who had doubted the side's attitude that this side are prepared to do it tough to get the win. Wolves now turn their attentions to Harlequins, the surprise package of Superleague XII. Warrington will be hoping for a big following next Saturday in the capital where a victory could see Warrington at the top of the Superleague come full time,... and when was the last time you read that?