Late rally by young bloods wears down Wakefield

Wakefield Trinity 29 Wigan 34

Two tries in the last 10 minutes, set up by two of their outstanding young prospects, saved Wigan at Wakefield. Wigan were trailing by five points with time running out when their 18-year-old substitute Luke Robinson made a break through the middle and linked with Adrian Lam, who raced clear to score.

Julian O'Neill could not land the conversion that would have put his side ahead, but three minutes later it was 19-year-old Gareth Hock who continued the rescue, finding the gap in Wakefield's tiring defence to send David Hodgson away with the try that left Trinity empty-handed.

"We had a lot of experienced players out today and we had to rely on youth to get us through,'' said the Wigan coach, Stuart Raper.

For a long time at Belle Vue, however, it looked as though their efforts might not be enough. Wakefield, sensing the chance of an upset, led through Richard Newlove's early try and, although they fell behind to a quick double from Hodgson and Lam, they hit back with two of their own through Jon Wells and Brad Davis, with the impressive Ben Jeffries supplying the pass on both occasions.

Trinity made it a nine-point lead early in the second half before O'Neill scored from Kris Radlinski's pass and Martin Aspinwall cut through for the try that put Wigan back in front.

Wakefield have had some good results against Wigan over the years and looked to be on their way to another when Ian Knott's penalty put them in front once more and a Martyn Holland try took their lead back to seven points. But O'Neill's penalty brought Wigan back within range and their gifted teenagers did the rest.

"They've certainly got some great young players,'' mused the Wakefield coach, Shane McNally, who is still convinced that his side is moving in the right direction, even without a Super League win so far this season.

Wakefield: Holland, Halpenny, Ellis, Newlove, Wells, Jeffries, Davis, Field, Handforth, Hood, Slattery, Knott, Vowles. Substitutes used: Rooney, O'Brien, Sovatabua, Wrench.

Wigan: Radlinski, Dallas, Aspinwall, Hodgson, Ainscough, O'Loughlin, Lam, C Smith, M Smith, Sculthorpe, Tickle, Johnson, Hock. Substitutes used: Bibey, O'Neill, Wild, Robinson.

Referee: S Ganson (St Helens).

* Hull returned to form after two defeats with a 38-18 win over Widnes. The decisive moment came seven minutes from time when Toa Kohe-Love scored a try from 90 yards to give Hull a 32-18 lead.