betfred premier league
York(18) 30
try: Jones-Bishop, Balmforth, Mata’afa, Vaughan, Harris Target: Richardson 5
Warrington(22) 38
try: Stone 2, Thewlis 2, Tyler Ray, Williams, Curry Target: Snead 5
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Warrington Wolves maintained their 100% start to the Super League season by defeating a spirited York Knights in a thrilling, high-scoring game.
The two sides made a total of 12 attempts, the score was 30-38, and they scored 40 points in the first half.
Josh Thewlis and Sam Stone arguably made the difference for the visitors, with two tries each.
Ben Currie also had a special moment, scoring his 100th shot for Warrington in the second half.
Wolves are joint top of the table with Wigan Warriors on six points, with York currently in ninth place with two wins from four games.
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With a quarter of an hour left, the first Super League clash between the two teams looked set to be a very one-sided affair.
Stone, Thewlis and the impressive Cai Taylor-Ray got the visitors off to the perfect start with three quick scores, with Wolves breaking through the home defense twice before Taylor-Ray received a lovely pass either side of the ball and fired it into the bottom corner.
Fifteen minutes later, incredibly, Warrington found themselves trailing behind an onslaught from the home side.
Ben Jones-Bishop got Knights on the board before Denive Balmforth finished off the attack with some clever help from defender Tom Mata’afa, who then completed the comeback with a shot of his own.
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A few minutes later, the lead changed hands again, and Stone scored for the second time to put the Wolves ahead 22-18 at the break.
The second half was similar to the first, with the home side coming out of trouble slower than their more experienced Super League opponents. George Williams scored from a cross before Curry brought his century-long try to Warrington under the stumps.
Still, the home side refused to accept defeat, with Paul Vaughan claiming against his former club and Liam Harris trying to reduce the gap between the Knights and their opponents to two points.
With 10 minutes left in the game, Thewlis made another mistake and Marc Sneyd converted a shot to give the Wolves the win.
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They return to Goole Vikings in the Challenge Cup on Saturday, March 14, while York take on Keighley Cougars in the same fixture.
“We expect better of ourselves” – reaction
York manager Mark Applegarth told BBC Radio York:
“Fair play to Warrington, congratulations to them. They started very strongly in both halves but we got caught.
“I’m very proud of the spirit we showed and how we got back into it, but we also learned some valuable lessons through it all.
“If you score 30 points in a game, that should be enough to win the game, but I thought we left some soft attempts.
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“I thought we looked great on the front foot but the momentum change at this level is huge and these teams can score some big scores very quickly.
“We didn’t come here to be happy losers, so it does sting a little bit when we get back into the game and have it get away from us again. We expected better from ourselves.”
York: Mata’afa; Jones-Bishop, Wood, Williams, Norfoaluma; Richardson, Harris; Martin, McShane, Vaughan, Field, Dee, Thompson.
Transfer: Griffin, Balmforth, Waa, Sangare.
Warrington: Taylor-Ray; Thewlis, King, Hobot, Smith; Williams, Snead; Yates, Walker, Byrne, Harrison, Stone, Curry.
Transfer: Powell, Sipley, Philbin, Tanginoa.
referee: Liam Moore.