Warrington Wolves 12 St Helens 48.

THE irony will not have been lost on Paul Cullen that a Warrington official gave Saints a helping hand towards a 10th straight win against Wolves on Friday.

It was a miserable night for Cullen, who witnessed the world club champions run away with it in a second half that saw key players Paul Wood, Chris Bridge and Lee Briers pick up injuries in consecutive tackles.

What he could have done without was the decisions that went against his side in a competitive first half that ended with two tries that gave Wolves a sniff of a result.

Most of the decisions were made by referee Ashley Klein, who aggravated the Halliwell Jones Stadium crowd by ignoring Keiron Cunningham's shove on Briers at a play-the-ball and a suspiciously forward pass from Francis Meli.

Both led to Saints tries but the most crucial decision was made by Warrington's Phil Bentham, the video referee who decided Matt Gidley had applied downward pressure on the ball as he attempted to open the scoring from Sean Long's kick.

Bentham had already correctly disallowed a Martin Gleeson try and later allowed Briers' try to stand even though the skipper did not seem to have tapped the ball properly at a penalty.

But it was the Gidley decision that infuriated Cullen.

"We couldn't buy a decision or a penalty to save our lives," he said.

"The momentum of the game is decided when the first pass of the game is so forward it's not funny and with such a contentious decision for the first try.

"You tend to get a feel then that it's not going to go your way."

But Cullen conceded that Wolves were not at their best, with far too many handling errors to sustain any momentum.

They were never going to get away with that against Saints, who ran in nine tries - six in Wolves' left channel.

A dismal night was summed up when Leon Pryce ran the length of the field after an embarrassing collision at dummy half between Jon Clarke and Vinnie Anderson.

Anderson teamed up with Michael Sullivan in a makeshift half-back partnership in the final 15 minutes after the departure of Bridge and Briers, while Wood had to stay on because Wolves had no substitutes left.

A lone spectator shouted 48 points' at each of the Wolves players as they trudged off at the end of the game but, although it was their heaviest home defeat since an 84-12 hammering by Bradford in 2001, even Saints coach Daniel Anderson felt the scoreline flattered his team.

How Wolves react to Friday's defeat will be the test.

Match facts

Warrington Wolves 12 St Helens 48

Wolves: Stuart Reardon; Henry Fa'afili (1t), Martin Gleeson, Paul Johnson, Brent Grose; Chris Bridge, Lee Briers (1t, 2g); Paul Rauhihi, Jon Clarke, Paul Wood, Ben Westwood, Mike Wainwright, Vinnie Anderson. Subs used: Chris Leikvoll, Rob Parker, Mark Gleeson, Michael Sullivan.

Saints: Paul Wellens (1t); Ade Gardner (1t), Matt Gidley (3t), Willie Talau, Francis Meli (1t); Leon Pryce (2t), Sean Long (6g); Nick Fozzard, Keiron Cunningham, Jason Cayless, Mike Bennett (1t), Lee Gilmour, Jon Wilkin. Subs used: James Graham, James Roby, Stephen Bannister, Maurie Fa'asavalu.

Referee: Ashley Klein

Scoring: Gidley is controversially adjudged to have exerted downward pressure on the ball when touching down Long's grubber, 14mins, 0-4; Fozzard and Gidley put Gardner over after Wolves had failed to deal with Pryce's bomb, 26mins, Long converts, 0-10; Gidley steps inside Johnson and Reardon but Meli's pass looked suspiciously forward in the build-up, 38mins, Long converts, 0-16; Briers takes a quick tap penalty and darts past Pryce, 40+mins, Briers converts, 6-16; Fa'afili scores from Briers' grubber on the final play of the half to finish off a move involving nine Wolves players, 40+mins, Briers converts, 12-16; Meli burrows underneath Fa'afili and Briers from dummy half, 44mins, 12-20; Fa'asavalu makes a break and Cunningham hands Gidley his hat-trick on the next tackle, 54mins, 12-24; Long puts Bennett over, 59mins, Long converts, 12-30; Pryce runs the length of the field after Clarke and Anderson had collided as they both dashed to dummy half, 69mins, Long converts, 12-36; Gardner fends off Grose's tackle and passes inside to Pryce, 73mins, Long converts, 12-42; Pryce brilliantly flicks the ball into Wellens' path, 80+mins, Long converts, 12-48.

Pens: Wolves 9 Saints 7

Scrums: Wolves 8 Saints 5

Attendance: 13,024

Warrington Guardian top men: Clarke 3pts, Wainwright 2pts, Mark Gleeson 1pt.

Interesting note: Briers' try and two goals took him on to 2,003 career points.