For St Helens it was the chance to go top of the pile, for Warrington Wolves it was their chance to keep alive their hopes of a top four finish and put an end to their mathematical fears of dropping out of the eight.

This is the third meeting between the sides in 2015 and the Saints are looking to complete the whitewash having won 32-24 at Langtree Park back in March, and 20-16 in Newcastle.

Warrington's last home game was the masterly win over Wigan a fortnight ago and they were up against a Saints side showing patchy form with two wins in their last four.

The opening quarter of an hour was high intensity, mistake riddled, end to,end action with both sides having and shunning chances.

The first try was down to a dart from acting half-back by James Roby and despite appearing to lose the ball against Ben Harrison's knee he regained to ground by the posts. Luke Walsh slotted over an easy kick.

After benefitting from two quick penalties, as Warrington's frustration manifested itself through indiscipline, Walsh kicked a penalty from twenty metres out to give Saints an 8-0 lead.

As the half wore on the referees whistle went intro overdrive and in the first thirty-two minutes we'd averaged a penalty every second minute. Referee Child's patience wore thinnest with the Wolves and they were put on a team warning,

With two minutes left in the half it was the Wolves who benefitted from a penalty for a high tackle by Walsh. The Wolves tapped the penalty on the Saints twenty and passed through quick hands for Ben Currie to outstep the Saints defence to ground. Gareth O'Brien converted to reduce the half-time margin to 8-6.

Nine minutes after the restart and the Wolves hit the front. A poor pass from Luke Walsh was intercepted by Kevin Penny to run forty metres unopposed to score under the sticks, making O'Brien's kick a formality.

The lead lasted just five minutes before Mose Masoe pushed his way to the line as the Wolves defenders couldn't get a grip on the big New Zealander. It was another simple conversion for Walsh.

On the hour mark a last ditch tackle from James Roby prevented Ben Harrison from grounding the ball, and seconds later Jordan Turner knocked the ball out of Joe Philbin's hands as he was in the act of scoring.

Six minutes from time and the Wolves got a penalty for a ball steal on Ryan Atkins. O'Brien kicked the goal to level the scores at 14-14.

But with just two minutes remaining breaks by Roby and Quinlan gained sixty metres before the ball was flung wide left for Jordan Turner to slide over by the corner flag. Walsh goaled from the touchline for 20-14 with sixty seconds left on the clock.

Saints held strong to the final hooter the secure their third win of the season over the Wolves and go back to the top of Super League XX ahead of the Rhinos clash with Salford Red Devils tomorrow evening.

Wolves: Russell, Ormsby, Ratchford, Atkins, Penny (T), O'Brien (3G), Myler, Hill, Clark, Sims, Westwood, Currie (T), Harrison. Subs: Dwyer, Asostasi, England, Philbin.

Saints: Quinlan, Dawson, Percival, Turner (T), Swift, Burns, Walsh (4G), Amor, Roby (T), Walmsley, Greenwood, Wilkin, Flanagan. Subs: McCarthy-Scarsbrook, Masoe (T), Savelio, Richards.


Referee: James Child
Attendance: 11.618