St Helens boss Paul Wellens picks out deciding factor in ‘rollercoaster’ win at Warrington Wolves

Head coach Paul Wellens described Saints 24-20 victory over Warrington Wolves at the Halliwell Jones Stadium as ‘a rollercoaster of emotions’, and he certainly  hit the nail on the head as his team showed oodles of character to turn the tables on their Super League title rivals.

The champions trailed 20-12 after an hour at the Halliwell Jones Stadium but bounced back to snatch a 24-20 success with tries from Jonny Lomax and Lewis Dodd.

Wellens said: “If you’re a neutral tuning into that you’re absolutely loving it. It was certainly a rollercoaster of emotions and I’m just delighted to come out on the right side of the result.

“What you saw was two committed teams, both going at it. In tight games like that it can go either way, so I’m just thankful.

“As a coach you can pick the highlights out of it, say we did this or that well, but I think just the character won it for us.

“They challenged us a lot and a couple of times they opened us up. When you go eight points down, and the crowd are right behind them, for us to keep our composure and keep going about our business, and flip the game on its head, was really pleasing.”

Warrington’s defeat was their sixth in seven games but coach Daryl Powell felt his side – who began the season with eight successive wins – could take much encouragement from the performance.

The Wolves had been 12-6 behind at the interval but showed their mettle as they roared back to take the lead with tries from Matty Ashton – his second of the game – and Matt Dufty early in the second half.

Powell said: “Obviously the result is disappointing and the players are gutted but, as a standard of where we want to be, that was pretty close to play-off standard.

“We were right in it all the way though. There were lots to really like about the way we performed and for us it could be a turning point in our season. If we have that effort there is not too much to be worried about.

“We’re disappointed we couldn’t get the two points but there are games in a season where you know you can do special things and I think we showed that tonight.

“We have gone toe to toe with what I believe is the best side in the comp and shown we will be there or thereabouts at the end of the season.”