Saints dash to victory

Long was crucial to the Saints win

Wakefield 22-30 St Helens

Two tries in the last ten minutes from St Helens inflicted a seventh successive defeat on Wakefield.

Saints were under the cosh for most of the contest, but despite the double sin-binning of loose forward Paul Sculthorpe, the Merseyside outfit had enough in the locker to beat a spirited Wildcats side.

Scrum-half Sean Long had a relatively poor day with the boot but scored a fantastic solo try after 70 minutes and then winger Chris Smith grabbed an interception from 90-metres out to go over and put the nail in Wakefield's coffin.

The West Yorkshire side were leading 14-12 at half-time and then piled on the pressure after the interval when Martin Masella went over in the 67th minute.

Easy touchdown

Earlier Warren Jowett scored a try for the away side when he took advantage of some poor defending and former St Helens full-back Steve Prescott kicked the first of his five goals.

Wakefield's Willie Poching scored a try to put his team 12-4 ahead after 17 minutes, although the Saints fought back soon after.

Paul Newlove raced through to score an easy touchdown and full-back Paul Wellens scored their second after Tommy Martyn had intercepted a pass from Poching.

Winger Anthony Sullivan, who looked dangerous all match, went over for two tries after the break but the Saints faced another setback when Sculthorpe was sin-binned following a scuffle with Wakefield captain Gary Pryce.

The final few minutes were a frenetic affair, with Masella's effort seemingly giving the Wildcats an unlikely win, but it was not enough as the double from Long and then Smith ended the home side's hopes.

Teams:

Wakefield: Prescott, N. Law, Ellis, Hughes, Sampson, Poching, Tomlinson, Stephenson, Hudson, Masella, Jowitt, Field, Price. Replacements: Watene, Jackson, Critchley, Speak.

St Helens: Wellens, Smith, Iro, Newlove, Sullivan, Martyn, Long, Perelini, Barrow, O'Neill, Stankevitch, Joynt, Sculthorpe. Replacements: Nickle, Henare, Stewart, Jonkers.

Referee: R Smith (Castleford)