Wolves heading to Wembley

Warrington booked themselves a trip to Wembley with a 39-26 victory over Wigan in a classic Carnegie Challenge Cup semi-final in Widnes.

After trailing 8-0 early on, the Wolves ran riot in the first 40 minutes at the Stobart Stadium to go in 28-8 ahead at the break.

Tony Smith's side seemed to be home and dry when Matt King completed his hat-trick after 48 minutes - only for the Warriors to come storming back.

Wigan crossed three times without reply to set up a thrilling finish, but a drop goal from Lee Briers and a late try from Chris Hicks made sure the Wolves clinched their first final appearance in 19 years.

Relief

The final hooter was greeted with a mixture of delight and relief from the Warrington players after they had come close to blowing a 24-point lead.

They had stormed clear thanks to a a five-try burst in the space of 20 minutes - King scoring the first and last while Jon Clarke landed four conversions.

All this came after Wigan had forged their way in front thanks to a Phil Bailey try and four points from the boot of winger Pat Richards.

The Wolves responded to the early deficit with a points blitz, King somehow getting the ball down under pressure and then Amo Roberts' inability to deal with a high ball gifting a simple score to Louis Anderson.

Having put up the kick that led to the second try, Briers then crossed for the third himself before setting up Mike Cooper to dive over underneath the posts.

Michael Monaghan's break set up King for a simple run-in just before the interval and the Australian centre completed his personal treble at the start of the second half when he soared highest to grab another dangerous Briers bomb.

Hope

However, Wigan refused to throw in the towel and were given a glimmer of hope by referee Steve Ganson, who had a mixed afternoon to say the least.

The official decided Roberts' flick back inside before the ball went into touch had not gone forward, allowing Sam Tomkins an easy run-in that was quickly followed by Richards' conversion.

When Paul Prescott's excellent flick pass led to Andy Coley barging his way to the line, the Warriors sensed a historic comeback was on the cards.

Wave after wave of attacks from the Cherry and Whites followed until eventually Thomas Leuluai twisted out of a tackle to slam the ball down, the resulting conversion making it 32-26 with 12 minutes to play.

But, with his team reeling on the ropes, Briers kept his cool to land the knockout blow, his simple drop goal making it a two-score difference.

Hicks put the final nail in Wigan's coffin when he broke free of some tired tacklers and galloped away from Michael Phelps to dive over in the right corner, putting Warrington just one more win away from lifting the cup for the first time since 1974.