Wigan 14 Huddersfield 10: Orr's crucial try hands league lifeline to Wigan
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Your support makes all the difference.Danny Orr's match-winning 73rd-minute try continued Wigan's revival as the Warriors earned their eighth win in nine games, moving above Challenge Cup finalists Huddersfield in the battle to escape relegation from the engage Super League.
Huddersfield, led brilliantly by the stand-in captain Robbie Paul, held the lead three times in a compelling struggle before the 16-7 penalty count against them contributed to their downfall. The Giants coach Jon Sharp, who saw Stuart Donlan added to the growing injury list after aggravating a thigh problem, was upset at the referee Karl Kirkpatrick's handling of the game.
He said: "We felt as though we played against 14. There was a 7-1 penalty count in the second half and Wigan's try came on the back of a knock-on. They're facts not comments. I'm pretty pumped up about it and the players are devastated and I will be speaking to the powers-that-be."
Huddersfield enjoyed long spells of first-half pressure and took the lead when Kevin Brown, their stand-off on loan from Wigan, slid over after Nathan McAvoy fumbled Paul's high kick. But Wigan equalised when Bryan Fletcher sliced over from dummy half. Michael De Vere and Michael Dobson then traded penalties to leave the game deadlocked, 8-8, at the interval.
The Giants then took the lead for the third time when De Vere struck another penalty on the hour-mark before Orr capitalised on Wigan's pressure by slicing under the posts for what may be one of the most vital tries in Wigan's history.
"We didn't play the conditions particularly well and that made a tough game even tougher," said the Wigan coach Brian Noble.
Wigan: Ashton; Calderwood, Vaealiki, McAvoy, Richards; Orr, Dobson; Paleaaesina, Higham, Fielden, Fletcher, Hock, O'Loughlin. Substitutes used: Tickle, Logan, Godwin, Hansen.
Huddersfield: Donlan; De Vere, Nero, Wild, Fagborun; Brown, Hemingway; Jackson, Paul, Gannon, Crabtree, Smith, Raleigh. Substitutes used: Snitch, Jones, McDonald, Mason.
Referee: K Kirkpatrick (Warrington).
* Bradford Bulls consolidated their place in the play-offs with a 48-10 rout of struggling Castleford at Grattan Stadium stadium last night. The result leaves the Tigers mired in the relegation dogfight.
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