Warrington v Wigan New Years Day 1991

Fresh on the back of playing Widnes twice in three days Wire had to now face table toppers Wigan at Central Park without pack leaders Gregory, Sanderson, Jackson and Harmon and new signings Ellis and Bateman in the backs. Gary Chambers and Rowland Phillips got the nod at prop for their third and second starts of the season respectively. Thorniley was welcomed back at centre in place of Bateman, Turner coming in at 6 for Ellis with O'Sullivan moving to 7, Mark Thomas moved back to the bench alongside Basil Richards who was making his first appearance of the season. Mark Forster, somewhat worse for wear after New Years Eve, made a surprise return for his first game since dislocating his shoulder at Wembley in may.
David Myers stated on the right wing for Wigan having recently left Warrington under a tribunal cloud, Bobbie Goulding was preferred to start at 7 ahead of Andy Gregory whilst having an entire pack of Great Britain internationals.
Both teams started well with driving runs and strong defence. Wigan looked to score first when Platt burst onto Hanley's forward pass and looked to put Iro in, but the referee spotted the pass and called it back before Forster's interception denied Wigan the opener.
Hanley looked to have put Bell in but Thorniley's tackle forced a knock on with the line begging. Leniency from the ref was giving Wigan more territory Betts stepped through a gap to score only for Lyon to pull off an amazing show of strength to grab the second rower mid dive and twist him back into play. From that position Edwards and Bell combined to put Iro over again in the right corner. Mark Forster had other ideas and picked off the Kiwi centre's pass and raced clear for a 95 yard try which Rudd converted. 6 nil.
The game opened up a little more and Bell's night got even worse when his looped pass to Myers went into touch. From that scrum Thorniley made a long range break with Dessie clear on his right, but his pass was delayed too long and Edwards recovered to collect the forward pass. It really should have been another four points to Wire.
A soft penalty under the Warrington sticks gave Botica an easy two points to finally put Wigan on the board. Turner's drop goal was disallowed for a Wigan hand getting a touch as Wire tried to nudge further ahead, both teams ruing missed chances as the the first half came to a close.
Wire built pressure steadily to start the second half then opened Wigan up on 52 minutes when Mercer cut through the Wigan defence from half way, leaving players strewn across the Central Park pitch and his pass gave Duane Mann a simple option to put substitute Bazil Richards to swan diving into the left corner with his first touch. 10-2.
Five minutes later Duane Mann fooled everyone when he scooted blindside from acting half 25 yards out, chipped over the defence and beat Frano Botica to the ball for a superb try and number three on the night for Wire. Rudd failed to convert from the touchline again and the score remained 14-2 and the Wigan Walk was underway.
The Cherry and Whites tried to hit back straight away when Iro's strength took him through two tackles and set up Hanley only for Mann to pull off another try saver and cut The Pearl down as he did Faimalo three days previous. Andy Gregory came on for Wigan to spark their attack and his short ball put Platt away, he fed Hanley who's attempted pass was knocked back by the scrambling Warrington defence and another try was saved and Wigan remained without a try. Could Wire hold out?
Well no. Eventually the referee's whilst kept the pressure on the Warrington line as the final whistle neared and Bell ran onto Gregory's dubious pass to finally cross the Wire line. Botica's touchline effort unusually fell short and the score remained the same, Wire triumphant 14-6 in front a crowd of 10,986 and against a penalty out of 10 to 2.