Wakefield 18-24 St Helens: Late St Helens try denies Wakefield
Last Updated: 10/02/19 6:08pm
Louie McCarthy-Scarsbrook was St Helens' hero as he crashed over two minutes from time to clinch his side a dramatic 24-18 victory over Wakefield.
History beckoned at Belle Vue when Bill Tupou levelled the scores late on but McCarthy-Scarsbrook ensured the wait for Super League's first golden point would go on.
The teams could not be separated at half-time as Tom Johnstone twice cancelled out tries from Morgan Knowles and Tommy Makinson.
There was little sign of the drama to come when Makinson scored his second try to add to Regan Grace's effort but Saints were worth their second successive win in 2019 after outscoring Trinity five tries to three.
Determined to put last weekend's humbling at Ealing quickly behind them, Wakefield made a poor start when David Fifita dropped the ball from the kick-off.
Mark Percival's double movement spared the prop's blushes but St Helens did open the scoring on eight minutes through Knowles' close-range finish from Theo Fages' short ball.
Alex Walmsley rocked Tinirau Arona with a huge hit as Saints dug deep on their own line and the frustration proved too much for Danny Brough, who was sin-binned for dissent.
The yellow card appeared to galvanise Trinity and they were back in it when Ryan Hampshire's neat cut-out pass gave Johnstone the chance to finish acrobatically in the corner.
After dominating with 12 men, Wakefield conceded within a minute of Brough's return as Makinson raced over out wide after taking Lachlan Coote's floated pass.
The home side had shown enough in the first half an hour to suggest they would stay with Saints and in Johnstone they have a clinical finisher.
The hard work for the England winger's second try was done by Matty Ashurst and Jacob Miller, with Brough partly redeeming himself by nailing his touchline conversion to make it 10-10 at half-time.
The experienced half-back put Wakefield in front for the first time with a penalty after St Helens were penalised for obstruction but their lead was short-lived as Grace scored in the corner from Coote's pass.
Makinson spurned a chance to give the visitors breathing space when he was bundled into touch by Miller and Trinity went on to enjoy a dominant spell as Brough took control.
But St Helens held firm and landed a telling blow as Makinson took Jonny Lomax's pass to score his 99th Super League try.
Percival failed to put Wakefield away by missing his third conversion and Brough set up a grandstand finish by converting Tupou's try from out wide.
Coote gave Brough the chance to edge Wakefield ahead when he kicked the restart out on the full but the former Scotland captain's penalty fell short and that proved to be Trinity's last chance.
With the Wakefield players anticipating a drop-goal attempt, McCarthy-Scarsbrook reached out to score next to the posts to give St Helens a hard-earned win.
