St Helens beat Warrington with late Long drop-goal
Sean Long was once again the match-winner for St Helens
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Saturday, 09, Aug 2008 09:06
A last gasp Sean Long drop-goal broke Warrington hearts as they lost 17-16 at Knowsley Road after leading for much of the game.
Warrington were 16-10 up with less than five minutes left of the match, but a late Lee Gilmour try and then the Long drop-goal won the game for St Helens.
St Helens got off to a brighter start and after Sean Long drove the ball into the Warrington try area and made them take a goal-line drop out, Saints scored the first try of the match.
They worked the ball in front of the Warrington sticks and the powerful Kieron Cunningham outmuscled three Warrington players to touch the ball down. Long kicked the conversion form five yards out.
The Wolves were indisciplined early on and gave away silly penalties and put themselves under pressure. They conceded a second try when Lee Gilmour off-loaded from the tackle and the Saints worked space on the right wing for Ade Gardner to dive in and score his 24th try of the season. Long missed a difficult kick from the touchline.
Australian star Matt King got Warrington back into the game as he took advantage of a missed Long tackle on him and then weaved his way past the Saints defence to score. Chris Hicks brilliantly added the extra two points from his touchline kick.
Another piece of brilliance from Hicks saw Warrington get back on level terms. It was a wonderful flick pass from Hicks which allowed Chris Riley to slide into the right corner to make the scores 10-10 at half-time.
Michael Monaghan kicked a 40/20 at the start of the second-half which gave the Wolves a great attacking position. But Matt King threw a wild pass which went in front of Kevin Penny, who would have had a simple run to the try-line.
But then Martin Gleeson superbly off-loaded from the tackle to pass to Simon Grix , who then broke through the Saints defence and kept his nerve to pass the ball to Riley on his shoulder, who had an easy run to the try-line. Hicks added the extra two points.
With less than five minutes to go, St Helens showed their class as Gilmour took a short pass from Cunningham and charged for the try-line. Adrian Morley looked to have tackled Gilmour, but the England centre managed to bounce off him and score the try. Long added the extras to make the score 16-16.
It was left to the Saints magician Long to win the game as he kicked a monster drop-goal from almost the halfway line.
Meanwhile, Wigan also came back from behind to secure a 16-16 draw against the Catalan Dragons in France this evening.