Warrington's jinx continues as injury-hit Saints stage dramatic fightback

The irony is that they will probably never have a better chance because Saints, narrowly beaten at Hull KR in their opening game of Super League XIII, were without several of their own heavyweights.

No one could question Warrington's resilience as they tried to overcome the loss of full back Chris Bridge and current Australia test centre Matt King, their big-name acquisition from NRL Grand Final winners Melbourne Storm.

Bridge, no stranger to the treatment room last year, collapsed in agony after thirteen minutes, with a suspected rupture of his achilles tendon. King followed him to the dressing room twenty minutes later.

King's injury looked less serious and Warringtoncame up with a mixture of defiance and invention to snatch a 14-8 half-time lead.

But Saints effectively won a gripping contest with three tries in the first six minutes after the interval when they exposed weaknesses in the left side of Warrington's defence.

All three touchdowns were scored in their left-hand corner, where young Lee Penny no longer had the protection of the experienced King. Warrington, whose only success in 30 Super League games, home and away, against Saints was at their old Wilderspool ground in 2001, never gave up the ghost and kept the game alive with tries from Paul Johnson and Penny.

Saints could not covet their first win of the campaign until Kiwi winger Francis Meli forced his way over for their sixth try in the final minute.

They would have won more decisively if their young goal kicker Stephen Tyrer had not left his shooting boots at home but Lee Briers, normally one of the most accurate kickers in the competition, fared even worse. Warrington fell behind in the seventh minute, 'Man of Steel' James Roby crossing after a tap penalty for Tyrer to convert—one of only three successful kicks from eight attempts.

Warrington with a try in the corner from pacy winger Chris Hicks but the former Manley man had to switch to full back when Bridge collapsed in agony moments later. Paul Johnson, the Great Britain all-rounder whose career was nearly finished by a serious neck injury last season, took over from Hicks on the wing.

Ben Westwood for Warrington and Ade Gardner for Saints both had tries disallowed before a penalty from Tyrer nudged the Super League minor premiers further ahead.

And when King had to limp off, Warringtonlooked in real trouble. Yet they showed the extent of their resolve with two tries inspired by their former captain Lee Briers.

His perfectly-timed pass sent former Saints centre Martin Gleeson through a gap to score and two minutes later sold a dummy to find his own way to the line.

Then came the Saints blitz with two tries for Ade Gardner and one from Paul Clough and it would have been easy for Warringtonto have thrown in the towel. They didn't but they will look back on an evening of bad luck and lost opportunity.

Cullen said: "Chris Bridge, it appears, has ruptured his Achilles and he could out for the year.

"King has a possible tear in his calf and couldn't make the second half.

"He battled on quite bravely because he did it in the first two or three sets of the game.

"It doesn't help your rotations when you lose a full-back and a centre."

Cullen conceded that Saints cleverly exploited Warrington's left side in King's absence.

"The game changed on the Matt King injury," acknowledged Cullen.

"I think Saints were very smart and set Matt Gidley right through on to Andy Bracek until Vinnie Anderson came into that left-centre position.

"That is what changed the game and until the final set of the game it's five tries apiece at Knowsley Road, so I think we deserve some credit for that."

Savvy Saints coach Daniel Anderson admitted he knew exactly what he was doing in targeting Warrington's left side.

"We took advantage of Matt King going off," he said.

"I thought Matt Gidley was having a pretty solid game in the first half anyway but certainly it's difficult when you put someone in that position who is not a recognised centre.

"Between Longy (Sean Long), Leon (Pryce) and Gids (Matt Gidley) we exploited that position in the Warrington side."

Cullen's underachieving Wolves just cannot find a formula to smash the Indian sign which St Helens have held over them for so long.

"It's not a record that we speak about," insisted Anderson.

"If you can play with commitment and attitude and play with style then it sets your season up and we did that tonight.

"I thought we deserved it and there was some very high quality finishing in the second half.

"For round two, it was quite ridiculous for how good the competition is looking at this stage of the season."