By Chris Lord
July 4 2005

Warrington and Widnes head coaches give there thoughts into the thrilling 24-25 derby success for Warrington.

Warrington head coach Paul Cullen revealed stand-off Lee Briers was struggling with a thigh injury when he landed the matchwinning drop-goal to give his side a 25-24 win over Widnes.

Briers was withdrawn by Cullen at the start of the second half after picking up the complaint in the first period at the Halton Stadium.

But the talented Wales international emerged from the bench to hand the Wolves their seventh consecutive engage Super League victory with a well-struck drop-goal in the 75th minute.

Cullen admitted he threw on his star stand-off in the closing stages purely for that purpose.

"There was a little bit of work done by us there," said the Warrington-born coach.

"Lee Briers had a thigh strain and couldn't make the second half.

"We knew we weren't as fluent as we needed to be but to keep Lee Briers off for three quarters of the second half and pop him on for exactly that reason for him to deliver is worth claiming the two points."

The Wolves were superb in patches and claimed tries through Jon Clarke, Martin Gleeson, Danny Lima, Nathan Wood and Graham Appo.

But they were also sloppy in spells, allowing Widnes to draw level with 10 minutes remaining when the visitors had seemed to be cruising to the win.

Cullen was quick to pay tribute to the relegation-haunted Vikings, who emerged with some credit a week after their embarrassing defeat to Toulouse in the Challenge Cup.

"You have to congratulate Widnes," he added. "It was a fantastic effort from them and they have given everything they have got today.

"We'll take the two points, go home and do a bit of work but today's all about the Widnes response.

"We knew they would be committed and they haven't let us or anyone else down. I sincerely hope they survive because these games and that atmosphere is good for the game."

Widnes head coach Frank Endacott felt his team were unlucky to come away from the game on the losing side.

Tries by Gray Viane and Julian O'Neill looked like they would give the Vikings a share of the spoils but Briers stepped up to put an end to the hosts' hopes.

Endacott feels his men need to pick up points from these close matches if they are to preserve their Super League status.

"We would have been happy to come away with a point from the game, but to lose like that is heartbreaking," said the Kiwi, who also saw Andrew Emelio cross for his side.

"We gave our position too much easy ball which was disappointing.

"We have got to start learning how to win these games but I think we deserved a point."

 

Source: Sportinglife