 | MATCH SUMMARY Wakefield: (22) 22
Tries: Field, Obst, White 2
Goals: Rooney 3 Wigan: (12) 32
Try: Higham, Ashton, O'Loughlin, Moran Vaealiki
Goals: Tickle 3, Godwin, Richards 2 |
Wigan produced a brilliant second-half fightback to move into the fifth round of the Challenge Cup with a hard-earned 32-22 win over Wakefield. Wakefield surged ahead with Sam Obst, Jamie Field and Paul White (2) scoring.
The Warriors, who are bottom of Super League, gave an error-strewn display in the first half and were fortunate to be just 22-12 down at half-time.
But tries from Sean O'Loughlin, Dennis Moran and a late score from David Vaealiki ensured a remarkable comeback.
Wigan made a dreadful start with Kevin Brown making a mess of the kick-off, allowing it to bounce over his head and out of play, forcing a drop-out.
That set the tone for a first half in which Wigan made 10 handling errors, and Wakefield took a deserved lead when Field latched onto Obst's kick.
Wigan showed glimpses of quality though, and Mark Calderwood's chase of O'Loughlin's kick was rewarded when he forced an extra set from which Higham darted over.
Obst then dummied his way past O'Loughlin and Vaealiki to put Wakefield back in front.
After correctly disallowing Austin Buchanan's effort - the video referee then controversially awarded the Wildcats' next score despite a brilliant Ashton tackle on White.
 Wigan's Danny Tickle takes on the Wakefield defence |
There was no doubt about White's next score though, as he raced through and snatched the ball out of Ashton's hands to score under the posts and put his side 22-6 up.
But with the Warriors looking out of the game, an unexpected piece of fortune came their way when Colum Halpenny foolishly threw the ball away to give Wigan a penalty from which Ashton nipped over.
Under-fire Wigan coach Ian Millward must have said something special to his side at the interval, with the Warriors coming out a changed side.
Skipper O'Loughlin gave them the perfect start to the half, bursting onto Moran's pass and gliding through to cut the gap.
Moran followed that up with a superb individual try, kicking through for himself to collect and dot down and Pat Richards' conversion brought the scores level at 22-22.
After a frenetic 10 minutes, Wigan took the lead for the first time on 66 minutes through Danny Tickle's penalty.
Wakefield, who lost 22-21 against Warrington last week after being 21-0 up at half-time, became increasingly desperate, and Vaealiki took advantage to crash over late on.
Wakefield coach Tony Smith: "The turning point came before half-time when we were awarded a penalty and decided to throw the ball away.
"Wigan scored just before half time and had the momentum going into the second half. Our discipline let us down.
"Wigan showed fighting spirit, but we played really dumb in the second half."
Wigan coach Ian Millward: "We had a completion rate of 40% in the first half and we couldn't play the game we wanted to play.
"It's not easy to come away from home when you're under a lot of pressure. This will be great for their confidence.
"In all fairness we were the better team on the day - we were a bit more consistent over 80 minutes."
Wakefield: Halpenny, Buchanan, Demetriou, Whittle, Tadulala, Rooney, Obst, Griffin, March, Korkidas, Elima, J. Field, Betham
Replacements: Wrench for Griffin (23), Wrench for Griffin (67), Betham for March (53), Catic for Korkidas (16), Catic for Korkidas (60), Applegarth for Elima (33), White for Betham (26), Griffin for Wrench (46), Elima for Applegarth (46), Korkidas for Catic (48).
Wigan: Ashton, Calderwood, Vaealiki, Richards, Dallas, Brown, Moran, Seu Seu, Higham, Hargreaves, Tickle, Fletcher, O'Loughlin
Replacements: Tickle for Ashton (54), Prescott for Seu Seu (21), Prescott for Seu Seu (59), Godwin for Higham (35), O'Carroll for Hargreaves (69), Seu Seu for Tickle (38), O'Carroll for Tickle (80), Tomkins for Prescott (49), Seu Seu for Prescott (72), Hargreaves for O'Carroll (75), Higham for Godwin (65).
Att: 3,123
Ref: K Kirkpatrick (Warrington).
MMIX
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