Cardiss has the drop on Warrington
Halifax 16 Warrington 11
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Your support makes all the difference.Daryl Cardiss's try in the last minute got Halifax out of the snare set by Lee Briers' Super League record five drop goals. Briers' tactic of kicking on sight had kept Warrington in front all evening, but Halifax's late escape leaves the Wolves still in the mire at the foot of the table.
Crises in rugby league come in all shapes and sizes, with Warrington's traumas this season put into perspective by the fear that haunts Halifax of being shut down if they cannot pay their tax bill. That prospect has hardly inspired them on the pitch, and they went into yesterday's game knowing that defeat would drag them into a relegation dogfight with the Wolves.
Both sides had their early chances, with Halifax going the closest to a try when Karle Hammond had one disallowed for offside when he kicked over the defence.
Gradually, however, it was Warrington's no-frills approach that emerged as the more effective. They ground away at the Halifax defence and eventually made a breakthrough midway through the first half. It was Sid Domic, the best of a mixed bag of Australian imports this season, who did the damage, running at the line and throwing his pass wide to Danny Halliwell, who found the gap on the outside.
It was a try rich in irony – Halliwell is on loan from Halifax to Warrington and they could have stipulated that he did not play in this match.
Briers could not land the conversion, but he did succeed with two drop-goal attempts before half-time. It was not pretty to watch, but it worked admirably for them at Hull in their best performance of the season, so who could blame them for trying the same thing again?
Briers continued to kick Halifax to death after the break, with three more drop goals and a penalty, but Halifax eventually found the way through their massed defence. Danny Tickle broke through for their first try, but it looked as though his two missed kicks could be costly until Dave Woods went over with nine minutes remaining to cut the margin to one point.
Then it was time for Cardiss to spot a gap and dart through for the try that made Briers' marksmanship irrelevent.
Halifax: Flowers, Halpenny, Woods, Donlan, Beckett, Dunemann, Clinch, Goldspink, Lawless, Gannon, McMenemy, Bloem, Hammond. Subs:Cardiss, Hobson, Tickle, Birchall.
Warrington: Watts, Smyth, Burns, Halliwell, Rivett, Briers, O'Reilly, Laughton, Clarke, Hilton, Wood, Marquet, Domic. Subs:Fozzard, Noone, Appo, Guisset.
Referee: Steve Ganson (St Helens).
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