TONY Smith says his Wolves side must improve across the board if they are to beat Wigan in tonight’s Halliwell Jones Stadium derby clash, kick off 8pm.

Although Warrington’s head of coaching and rugby was pleased by last week’s 18-16 win at Hull FC, he was disappointed with the overall performance.

Defence was highlighted as a strong point, Wolves recovering from an early 12-0 deficit to steadily grind out the result, and Smith is delighted with the progress his team are making without the ball.

But, unusually for Warrington, it was their work with the ball that often let them down against Hull and Smith has warned his team cannot afford to make the same mistakes against Wigan.

He said: “Defence kept us in the game at Hull. Aside from two tries, both when Garreth Carvell was off the field, I thought we were pretty good defensively, really solid.

“That was pleasing but we were disappointed in a lot of areas, some of the kicking game and some of the attack.

“Both those areas have been pretty good recently, particularly our attack, so we took some steps back in that regard.

“Overall the performance was a bit mixed, we took steps forward in some areas but we took a few steps back in other areas.

“So hopefully we can take some steps forward in all areas this week, we’ll need to.”

Both Chris Hicks and Matt King were late withdrawals from last week’s squad with injury, hampering Wolves’ preparations for the game.

Although King looks likely to return against Wigan tonight, Hicks remains a major doubt but Smith believes his side are well equipped to deal with any absences.

Last week, Chris Bridge deputised on the wing and his solid performance gave Smith encouragement that his team can overcome setbacks.

He said: “I might be able to have at least two specialist wingers this week!

“But I thought Chris Bridge did a fantastic job last week, considering he’d never played there.

“I thought he was one of our shining lights. Even in the first half, I thought he was one of our few shining lights, so well done to him.

“For some of it to happen late, it sets you back. We had a really short turnaround and it was tough but that’s what you’ve got to deal with sometimes.”

One man certain to miss tonight’s game against Wigan is Paul Johnson, the former Warriors man still struggling with a shoulder strain.

But Smith is very hopeful he will return for next week’s Challenge Cup quarter final at Hull KR.

He said: “I would hope he’ll be back.

“We’ll see, it’s hard to make predictions on those sorts of things but I’m hoping so and if he does come back we’ll have just about everybody fit and healthy.”