Rugby League: Hull 22, Warrington Wolves 24

Jun 30 2008 by Our Correspondent, Liverpool Daily Post

WARRINGTON coach James Lowes hailed a “massive win” for his side after an injury time conversion from Chris Hicks won them a thrilling match at Hull.

The Wolves had trailed on four separate occasions during the match, before Australia Test centre Matt King belied his poor form this season to take in Michael Monaghan’s pass and power his way over.

Hicks still had to slot the extras from close to the touchline, which he did, to secure a third win in four games for Lowes since he replaced Paul Cullen, and banish the memory of his side’s 52-14 hammering against Catalans last weekend.

“It’s a strange old game isn’t it, there’s probably only me and Chris who could have done that,” joked Lowes afterwards.

“He slotted it like a Euro 2008 penalty. I know how Rich Agar will feel now because I’ve been there myself.

“I’m really pleased with our second half performance. I thought we were poor in the first half and turned too much ball over.

“But our defence was good and we did a lot of it, but it held up and helped us when we had more ball control in the second half. I know that it’s an 80-minute game.”

Lowes was also quick to praise his England duo of Martin Gleeson and Adrian Morley, both of whom played less than 48 hours after starring in the win over France.

“I started them on the bench with the obvious fact that they’d been in France and had a horrendous journey back.

“When they went on, I thought Adrian was a bit loose in the first half but tightened up in the second and Martin was fantastic.

“We played him at loose forward, he likes to play with the ball in his hand and he was fantastic.

“This was a massive win, from last week and in its own right, coming here to Hull and getting the result.”

Despite losing the game at the death, Hull coach Richard Agar admitted that his side got what he thought they deserved.

A superb 74th-minute score from Kirk Yeaman, allied to a brace from Shaun Berrigan and a first career try for centre Jodie Broughton appeared to have secured a second home win in a row for Agar, only for King to strike.

“I thought ultimately we got what we deserved on our second half showing,” said Agar.

“I thought we should have got a bigger half-time lead, but we invited them back into it.

“We failed to accumulate any completions in the second half and even when we got to one minute, 45 on the clock to win it we came up with another incompletion. Seven from 14 tells its own story.”