Johnson ends Wolves' revival

Warrington 16 Wigan 41

Warrington last night showed the sort of urgency that they will need in their struggle against relegation. Unfortunately they only did so once they were 29 points down and it did not last.

Three quick tries and one disallowed in an inspired 15 minute spell in the second half showed what might have been if the Wolves had applied themselves from the start. "That's what we've been trying to work on," their coach, David Plange, admitted. "To their credit, they competed with them in the second half."

Wigan were hardly at their best, but took a firm grip on the game in the first half. After Warrington had started brightly, with Danny Halliwell being denied a try in the corner by Brian Carney's last ditch tackle, it was all Wigan, with every chance turning into a try for the visitors. Adrian Lam's kick began the Wolves' problems, Jamie Ainscough claiming it above Rob Smyth and slipping the ball for Kris Radlinski to score.

Wigan were without Andy Farrell, but their captain would have been proud of the pass that Mick Cassidy smuggled to Ainscough for their second try after 15 minutes.

Warrington had another chance when a 40-20 kick from Lee Briers and a penalty close to the Wigan line enabled them to move the ball wide, but the pass from Ben Westwood, making his home debut, gave Halliwell no chance of collecting and scoring.

It was Wigan who showed them how to convert pressure into points from Lam's 40-20, the ball coming straight from the scrum base for Ainscough, so often vilified as an under-achiever by the Wigan fans, to score his second with ease.

Lam put over a drop goal and, immediately before half-time, Wigan apparently went out of sight with some lovely approach play from Sean O'Loughlin and Gary Connolly sending Radlinski in for his second, with Julian O'Neill landing his fourth goal.

Nothing improved immediately in the second half, with David Furner going past Paul Marquet with embarrassing ease for Wigan's fifth try.

That was the signal for Warrington's temporary transformation. With Nathan Wood switched to dummy half and an injection of enthusiasm from the bench, they scored tries through Halliwell, Paul Wood and Paul Noone with Briers adding two conversions.

If they had been awarded a fourth try when Westwood pounced on the loose ball after Halliwell had challenged Carney for a kick, the margin could have been down to seven points and Wigan could have had cause to worry.

"I always thought that if we got our game back to normal, we would be all right," said the Wigan coach, Stuart Raper.

Having escaped, normality was restored when they went straight to the other end for Paul Johnson to take Lam's pass and shrug off the series of tackles to put an end to Warrington's little revival. Two minutes from time, O'Neill's angled run gave Carney the simplest of tries and the score flattered Wigan, and took them up to third.

Warrington: Alstead; Smyth, Burns, Westwood, Halliwell; Briers, N Wood; Hilton, Clarke, Laughton, Fozzard, Marquet, Domic. Substitutes used: P Wood, Guisset, Penny, Noone.

Wigan: Radlinski; Carney, Johnson, Connolly, Ainscough; O'Neill, Lam; O'Connor, Newton, Smith, Cassidy, Furner, O'Loughlin. Substitutes used: Bibey, Howard, Tickle, Wild.

Referee: S Ganson (St Helens).