WARRINGTON Wolves recovered after a shaky start to lead Featherstone 20-4 at half time in their Challenge Cup round five tie.

Richie Mathers has scored on his return debut for the club, while Simon Grix, Michael Monaghan and Paul Wood have also touched down to give them a somewhat flattering scoreline.

It was not the most convincing of starts by Warrington.

Playing up the infamous slope, they looked a little sloppy and lethargic in the opening quarter.

Poor kicking and silly penalties handed Fev decent field position and they took advantage when Tommy Haughey flicked on Andy Kain’s flat pass to send Tommy Saxton in at the corner.

Trailing 4-0 on 20 minutes, Wolves made a better start to the second quarter.

They were somewhat fortunate to get the break when they did, with Rovers piling on the pressure inside their 20-metre area, but Grix snapped up an ambitious pass from Richard Blakeway and raced 80 metres to score.

Rocked by that blow, Fev seemed helpless to stop Wolves scoring again three minutes later.

The home fans screamed for a forward pass after Jon Clarke’s inside ball to Monaghan but the Aussie broke from 40 metres out before finding Mathers on the inside.

Wolves’ full back could not hide his delight at his first try since returning to the club.

Monaghan then gave the scoreline a rather flattering look at the break, scoring one try and creating another.

An impressive scything run allowed him to take out three defenders to score on the left nine minutes before half time.

And, on the stroke of half time, he dummied through the defence to feed Wood, the prop forward strolling in under the posts.

Hicks’ goal made it 20-4.