Warriors hold on

A first-half try from Sean O'Loughlin followed by some stout second-half defending proved Wigan's recipe for success in an 8-4 victory against Wakefield on a wet night at the JJB Stadium.

The Wildcats had led through two penalties from centre Tony Martin before O'Loughlin took a short ball from Mickey Higham to drive his way through Wakefield's defence and over.

Pat Richards' conversion and a penalty goal early in the second half completed the scoring on a night where the conditions came out firmly on top.

Wigan coach Brian Noble had earlier sprung a shock by leaving out stand-off Trent Barrett as a precaution after the Australian had picked up a slight knee injury in the week.

Meanwhile, the Wildcats fielded a patched-up side, with injury keeping out the likes of Brad Drew, Danny Brough, Sam Obst, Paul Reilly and Brett Ferres.

The home side were first into their stride and second-row Phil Bailey was held up over the line by two tacklers after eight minutes, a towering kick from Wakefield winger Sean Gleeson then easing the pressure.

Defences on top

The swirling wind and driving rain were counter-productive as far as open rugby were concerned and defences remained firmly on top until midway through the opening half when George Carmont gathered a short kick from Jamie Rooney.

However, he was tackled behind his tryline at the expense of a goal line drop-out.

Higham, on for Mike McIlorum, then conceded a penalty in the tackle right in front of his own posts, with Martin booting over the penalty to put the Wildcats 2-0 up.

The visitors could then have gone even further ahead when Jason Demetriou broke down the left-hand side for Rooney to kick to the corner.

However, the covering Mark Calderwood preventing Wakefield from registering the first try.

From the resulting scrum, however, referee Ian Smith again penalised Wigan in front of their own posts and Martin's second goal was promptly dispatched.

But Martin went from hero to villain after 34 minutes when he spilled the ball on the first tackle right on his own tryline, with Wigan quickly spreading the ball left for O'Loughlin to crash over from close range.

Richards converted to place his side ahead at the break, but also fell just short with an ambitious penalty attempt from over 40 metres out on the last play of the half.

Sin-binned

Wakefield's task was made harder just three minutes into the second period when, after several warnings for persistent offside, referee Ian Smith sin-binned Jason Golden.

Iafeta Paleaaesina then offloaded the ball to Higham, who was stopped inches short of the line before conceding a penalty for not playing the ball properly.

Wigan made inroads on their next set after a well-worked move involving Carmont released Liam Colbon, but Wakefield's defence got back in enough numbers.

Richards then kicked another penalty, again for offside, just as Golden returned to the fray for the Wildcats.

Wigan were lucky to escape on the hour mark when a poor kick from Richard Mathers found only the arms of Wildcats centre Ryan Atkins.

The latter then headed for the tryline a full 80 metres away but knocked on after colliding with Richards.

Wakefield launched a last-gasp bid for victory with 10 minutes remaining, forcing four successive sets with Golden held up over the line - team-mates outside him.

And, despite Higham being sin-binned in the final minute for slowing down a play-the-ball, Wigan held on for the spoils.