St Helens (24) 40 Tries:Talau 2, Albert, Gilmour, Roby, Gardner, Edmondson Goals:Sculthorpe 6 Wigan (6) 18 Tries: Aspinwall, Hargreaves, Guisset Goals: Tickle 3

Chris Melling increased Wigan's woes as he limped off early on, by which time Willie Talau and Darren Albert had already scored for the home side.

Lee Gilmour added a third but Martin Aspinwall returned to score Wigan's first try after a spell in the sin-bin.

Saints streaked ahead to 40-6 but Bryn Hargreaves and Jerome Guisset's tries made the scoreline more respectable.

Afterwards, Millward took heart from his team's performance and said there were plenty of reasons to be optimistic.

"I thought it was a performance that needed a lot of character and courage because we weren't as clinical as we were last week against Warrington and we came up with quite a few errors," said Millward.

"The guys tried really hard but we missed a few chances which would have put a cat amongst the pigeons. There was a lot to like about the performance.

"It was an indication of how much we have progressed."

Saints coach Daniel Anderson was pleased to have the points from what he admitted was an unspectacular match.

"It was a pretty scrappy game but it's still good to get the two points," he said.

"We were a bit flat during the week and our training sessions haven't been as good as they have been but it's to be expected that you are going to get a little bit of a flat spot now and again.

"I think they let their guard down a little bit but they've been up for a number of weeks now."

St Helens: Wellens, Albert, Lyon, Talau, Gardner, Wilkin, Roby, Fozzard, Cunningham, P. Anderson, Gilmour, Bennett, Sculthorpe.
Replacements: Moore, Edmondson, Fa'asavalu, Graham.

Wigan: Melling, Colbon, Wild, Vaealiki, Aspinwall, Orr, Moran, Hargreaves, Newton, Guisset, Tickle, Allen, Botham.
Replacements: Sculthorpe, Godwin, Hansen, Tomkins.

Referee: Ronnie Laughton (Barnsley).