Huddersfield Giants 22-32 Warrington Wolves
- Published
Chris Riley scored twice as Warrington came from behind to beat Huddersfield.
Wolves led 14-12 at the break, Riley's double and Chris Bridge's score being cancelled out by efforts from Danny Brough and Eorl Crabtree.
Jason Chan edged the Giants ahead soon after the restart, but Warrington were back in front with quickfire tries from Joel Monaghan and Matty Blythe.
Greg Eden crossed to move Hudderfield to within four points but Richie Myler's late try sealed victory.
Victory for Tony Smith's Warrington against his old club took the Wolves top of Super League at Huddersfield's expense, allowing skipper Adrian Morley to celebrate his 400th career appearance in style.
The visitors made the best possible start when Riley took Ryan Atkins' pass to score in the corner inside the first minute.
Huddersfield hit back with two tries in seven minutes as Luke Robinson sent Brough over before Crabtree marked his 300th career outing by producing an impressive sidestep to crash over.
Brough converted both tries to give the Giants a 12-4 lead, but it was Warrington who were in front at the break when Atkins and Myler combined to send Riley over for his second try, before Bridge scythed through the home defence, Lee Briers adding the extras.
Huddersfield regained the lead when Chan took Tommy Lee's pass to burst over early in the second half, but they could not hold on as the Wolves scored twice in four minutes.
Monaghan plucked Ben Westwood's pass out of the air to touch down before Blythe was first to reach a clever kick from Briers, who landed four of his six conversions.
Eden forced his way over to give the Giants hope, but Warrington ensured that they left the Galpharm with the points when Myler scooped up a loose ball to score.
But Warrington were left ounting the cost of victory after losing forwards Ben Harrison and Simon Grix with knee injuries.
Harrison could miss the rest of the season with a suspected ruptured anterior cruciate ligament while Grix is expected to be sidelined for several weeks with a medial ligament injury
VIEWS FROM THE DRESSING ROOM
Warrington coach Tony Smith:
"We lost two boys very early in the game which made it very tough for us.
"With Simon Grix it looks like his medial, but Ben Harrison is more serious. It looks like he's done his ACL. Benny's a bit shattered in there.
"We had a lot of things to overcome and I'm really pleased. We came up against a team who thought they could beat us and could have if we hadn't dug in. There was a lot of bravery shown."
Huddersfield coach Nathan Brown:
"It one of those games that swung one way and then the other.
"At 26-22 we bombed a try. We played some good footie but the most disappointing aspect was the first 15 or 20 minutes when we probably showed our opposition too much respect.
"I'm quite happy that we're improving. We just didn't take our chance to hit the front at a crucial stage of the game."
LINE-UPS
Huddersfield: Eden; McGillvary, Cudjoe, Wardle, George; Brough, Grix; Crabtree, Robinson, Ferguson, Gilmour, Chan, Brown.
Replacements: Lee, Fairbank, Faiumu, Walker.
Warrington: Ratchford; Riley, C Bridge, Atkin, J Monaghan; Briers, Myler; Morley, M Monaghan, Wood, Waterhouse, Westwood, Grix.
Replacements: Harrison, Cooper, Blythe, Hill.
Attendance: 8,184.
Referee: Phil Bentham (Warrington).