Wakefield Trinity Wildcats 23 Saints 22 SUPER League leaders Saints' 100 per cent record lay in ruins at Barnsley's Oakwell Stadium on Friday as the newly-promoted Wildcats brought off the shock result of the season.

A 76th-minute drop goal by Lynton Stott proved the decider in what was a wonderfully exciting match full of incident, with the issue remaining in doubt until Tommy Martyn failed with a last-gasp penalty.

However, without detracting one iota from a deserved Wakefield victory, it came against a Saints' side lacking Kevin Iro, Anthony Sullivan, Fereti Tuilagi, Sonny Nickle and Paul Davidson.

Coach Ellery Hanley had to include a clutch of teenagers for what is traditionally a tough fixture on Yorkshire soil - Saints lost on the previous trip to Belle Vue - but it would be totally unfair to blame them for the unexpected defeat.

For, although it might be argued that Saints were caught short on experience, these youngsters have proved their mettle in earlier games, and it would be more accurate to reflect that, overall, Saints were disjointed in the first half when tearaway Wildcats really got their claws into them.

In this period Saints faced a 20-6 deficit as a home side boasting a massive pack capitalised on errors to scored three tries, before the visitors bounced back to snatch the lead, but it was to no avail as Wakefield refused to buckle in reaping the rewards of a death-or-glory display.

Inventive substitute Tommy Martyn earned Saints' man-of-the-match rating, closely followed by Paul Atcheson, Sean Long, Apollo Perelini and Keiron Cunningham.

A superb setting and balmy evening greeted the teams and Wakefield took the lead via an Adam Hughes penalty goal, only for Saints to regain the early initiative when Cunningham caught the home defence napping to cross, and Long then tacked on a penalty. Wildcats went on a scoring spree with David March setting up a try for Adrian Brunker after Paul Newlove had been lured inside, and Neil Law also touched down after Paul Wellens fumbled a Glen Tomlinson chip-through.

Hughes converted the latter try and also landed a penalty, and when Paul March dispossessed Saints' captain Chris Joynt to race over for Hughes to goal, the visitors were saved further embarrassment when Newlove intercepted after Fawcett broke away.

Three successive sets of six tackles saw Saints camp on the Wakefield line and, after Anthony Stewart and Mark Edmondson went close, Saints were thrown a lifeline on half-time when Martyn and Atcheson sent Paul Sculthorpe over for Long to tack on the extra points.

Trailing by just 20-12 on the restart, revitalised Saints closed the gap even further when Wellens leapt like a salmon to touch down Long's 'bomb' for another six-pointer, and Joynt's men then moved into a two-point lead on 50 minutes courtesy of a brilliant solo effort by Long.

Wildcats drew level when Hughes landed a 40-yard penalty when Vila Matautia and Joynt held down Tomlinson, and the final quarter resolved itself one of cut-and-thrust as the teams battled for a crucial score.

But the final act in a closing drama which was pure theatre came when Wildcat's Gary Price was penalised for a high tackle on Stewart, but Martyn's 55-yard attempt at goal sailed wide and spelled a fairy-tale ending for resilient Wakefield.

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