Saints see off Wolves attack

St Helens moved two points clear at the top of the engage Super League after a 40-26 victory over Warrington at the Halliwell Jones Stadium.

Saints went into the game looking to move clear of second-placed Leeds Rhinos as well as to protect an eight-year unbeaten record against their local rivals, but it took an inspired showing from 19-year-old scrum-half Kyle Eastmond to see off a spirited Wolves display.

Eastmond, in the side as a replacement for the injured Sean Long, helped create three tries for his team-mates before adding one of his own, kicking six goals from eight attempts along the way.

Injury blow

Jon Clarke opened the scoring for the home side as part of a superb team effort in the sixth minute with Simon Grix adding the extras, but the Wolves suffered a blow when Grix had to be withdrawn with cuts to his face shortly afterwards.

Saints then swiftly clawed their way in front, their first try coming through Lee Gilmour on 12 minutes before James Graham added a second following Gary Wheeler's break from deep in his own half, with Eastmond converting on both occasions.

On 19 minutes, Vinnie Anderson was punished for a high tackle on Jon Wilkin and Eastmond made no mistake with the penalty, giving Saints an eight-point lead.

But with local pride at stake as well as the need to consolidate their play-off position, Warrington were in no mood to ease off and Chris Bridge crossed after half an hour to bring his side back to 12-14.

Yet they suffered a blow on the stroke of half time when Ade Gardner collected a long pass from Eastmond to score at the corner.

Fight-back

Despite the psychological blow, however, Warrington started the second half the stronger and Paul Johnson beat three defenders for a solo effort that gave the home supporters hope.

And the game took another thrilling twist shortly afterwards as Garreth Carvell got the better of James Roby before racing clear on a 70-metre dash, with Chris Bridge booting his third conversion of the game to leave Warrington 24-18 up.

However, Eastmond then supplied Paul Wellens on 54 minutes before adding the extras to restore parity and, while Bridge gave the hosts a slight advantage when he kicked a penalty after Tony Puletua failed to play the ball, Saints were firmly in the ascendancy.

On 67 minutes, Eastmond grabbed his first four-pointer of the game when Graham put Wellens into space before seeing another disallowed as he failed to reach the line.

With the score at 30-24, Graham then extended Saints' advantage in the 73rd minute before Francis Meli picked up on a Wilkin kick to complete the win.