ULTIMATELY, all that mattered for Warrington Wolves here was two points.

How it looked was not really important as long as they left the field having broken their Super League losing streak.

For a while, though, they were making it look pretty good.

The first 40 minutes saw The Wire at their most convincing in attack for quite some time.

Their second-phase game has been missing for what has seemed like an eternity, but it returned in style here.

> PHOTO GALLERY: Action and tries as Wire book play-off spot

It does not look good when offloads find grass. On this occasion, they seemingly always found hands and it caused chaos in the Wakefield defence.

Warrington Guardian:

It was that willingness to push numbers around the ball that created the first two tries and arguably should have resulted in a few more.

Mike Cooper was prolific in getting his arm free, as were Ben Murdoch-Masila, Ben Currie and Jason Clark – all of whom had fantastic games in the pack.

Finally, we also saw what we all know can happen when Josh Charnley is given quality ball. A finisher of his quality has been woefully underused at times so it was good to see him get over the line.

Warrington Guardian:

All was looking rosy but anyone returning from their half-time refreshments expecting more of the same proved to be sadly mistaken.

Within eight minutes of the restart, Wakefield were back within four points and Wolves were in grave danger of undoing all of their good work.

They had their visitors – desperately short on confidence and nervously looking over their shoulder at the relegation battle – on the ropes but allowed them to battle back.

Wakefield deserve credit for climbing off the canvas and swinging back, but The Wire need to be more ruthless when the play-offs come around.

> 'Fantastic first half but we took our foot off,' says Price

Had Warrington kept their foot on the gas, they probably would have won by 30 points or more.

Still, they won and in their current situation, that was paramount.

The play-off spot that has looked inevitable all season is finally secure. The task now is to give themselves as many chances to return to Old Trafford as possible.

> Tears, hugs and a Haka – an emotional goodbye to Super Bennie Westwood

Warrington Guardian:

INTERESTING NOTES:

. Wire’s sixth consecutive home victory over Wakefield

. Tom Lineham makes 150th Super League appearance

. Warrington end a six-match Super League losing streak

MATCH FACTS:

Super League, Round 28

Friday, September 6, 2019

Warrington Wolves...23 Wakefield Trinity...16

Wolves: Stefan Ratchford; Josh Charnley, Toby King, Bryson Goodwin, Tom Lineham; Blake Austin, Declan Patton; Chris Hill, Daryl Clark, Mike Cooper, Ben Murdoch-Masila, Ben Currie, Jason Clark. Subs: Joe Philbin, Sitaleki Akauola, Matty Smith, Jake Mamo

Trinity: Morgan Escare; Ben Jones-Bishop, Reece Lyne, Joe Arundel, Ryan Hampshire; Jacob Miller, Danny Brough; Craig Kopczak, Tyler Randell, Adam Tangata, Danny Kirmond, Kelepi Tanginoa, Jordan Crowther. Subs: Chris Green, George King, Kyle Wood. Not used: Titus Gwaze

Scoring: D Clark try, 17mins, 4-0; Currie try, 23mins, Ratchford goal, 10-0; Charnley try, 33mins, Ratchford goal, 16-0; Escare try, 43mins, Brough goal, 16-6; Jones-Bishop try, 48mins, Brough goal, 16-12; Goodwin try, 52mins, 20-12; Hampshire try, 63mins, 20-16; Ratchford penalty, 69mins, 22-16; Patton drop goal, 74mins, 23-16

Penalties: Wolves 10 Trinity 10

Referee: Chris Kendall

Attendance: 10,158

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