CONTROVERSY would have rained down on Saturday’s Challenge Cup quarter-final had Warrington Wolves not clinched their ‘golden point’ victory.

Wolves were on top and seeking a Lee Briers drop goal opportunity in the final seconds of the 80 minutes when a timekeeping mistake cost them their chance.

After Hull Kingston Rovers coughed up possession deep inside their own half as the 10-second countdown showed on the BBC big screen, Wolves quickly formed their six-man scrum so that referee Phil Bentham would stop the clock.

He called for that to happen with four seconds remaining but the clock continued to count down and the final hooter sounded.

Wolves’ players flocked around Bentham appealing for the scrum to take place and giving them one final tackle in which to try and win the game without the need for ‘golden point’ time.

Bentham had little choice but to work with the fact that the final hooter had sounded and announce the ‘golden point’ scenario.

Wolves’ head of coaching and rugby, Tony Smith, was not happy with the situation afterwards.

He said: “I haven’t talked to the officials about it but I just don’t know whether we needed to go to that extra time.

“With those four seconds that were still on the clock when the whistle was blown for the scrum, Briers could have got a field goal attempt from there and maybe it would not have even gone to extra time.

“I’m a bit dismayed about that one and we need to check that out.”

As it turned out, Briers landed the match-winning drop goal five minutes into extra time to take the heat out of a mistake that could have left Rugby Football League chiefs with an embarrassing situation on their hands.