Wigan 35, Saints 19 PICTURED: KEIRON CUNNINGHAM in typical rampaging form is brought to a halt by determined Wigan defence.

SAINTS' Super League lead hangs by a thread after second-placed Wigan closed the gap with a vengeance in this heart-stopper at Central Park on Friday night.

Saints had a golden opportunity go five points clear. Instead, they cling to a tenuous single-point advantage, and with nine games to play the championship promises to be a fight to the finish.

And there was no quibbling with the result from shell-shocked Saints, for wonderful Wigan recovered from a disastrous start to hand the Knowsley Road side a lesson in breathtaking handling, superb support work and unrelenting defence.

In stark contrast Saints struggled to find any sort of rhythm following their bright opening spell, and all too often it was a case of boring one-man rugby enlivened with flashes of individual brilliance, with off-the-cuff movements, which were once the side's hallmark few and far between.

Team selection was another bone of contention, particularly up front, where Saints' took the gamble of fielding Apollo Perelini - who has been battling with a knee complaint - and Derek McVey, and while conceding that Perelini struggled to find to find his normal barnstorming form, the grafting McVey earned the visitors' man-of-the-match rating.

Still on personnel there was a strong lobby that durable Andy Northey and strong-running Ian Pickavance should have been in the starting -line-up, while a place might have been allocated to the doughty Cumbrian Jonathan Neill - but hindsight can be a wonderful thing.

I thought Paul Newlove, Steve Prescott, Karle Hammond and Chris Joynt all had their moments, while Keiron Cunningham's second-half performance underlined the widely-held belief that he is the best number nine in the English game at present.

Wigan's soaring success was founded on a pack which laid a solid platform for a multi-talented back division to prove all to much for a Knowsley Road team yet again guilty of leaky defence. Orchestrated as ever by Shaun Edwards, Wigan man-of-the-match Jason Robinson, Henry Paul, Tuigamala and super-sub Craig Murdock really put outplayed Saints to the sword, and if there is a better centre in the world than Gary Connolly I have not seen him

However, Saints refused to throw in the towel, but handling errors at crucial times ruled out a first league win at Central Park since 1987 and a double over the old enemy for the first time since 1979/80.

Led respectively by old-time 'greats' Billy Boston and Tom Van Vollenhoven, the teams entered an inevitable cauldron-like atmosphere generated by a bumper 20,429 crowd, and Saints had their fans roaring with a try after just three minutes when McVey sent Alan Hunte and Danny Arnold away, with the winger's inside pass putting Bobbie Goulding in for a try which he converted.

The omens continued to look good for Saints as a brilliant break by Newlove ended with Hammond held just short, but Saints did not retire empty-handed as Goulding landed a snap drop goal to give his side a 7-0 lead in as many minutes.

Wigan bounced back into contention when Prescott's wayward pass eluded Anthony Sullivan for Rob Smyth to swoop and bounce out of 'Sully's' tackle, before turning inside the Saints cover to score beneath the posts, with Henry Paul tacking on the conversion.

Just minutes later Tuigamala, Martin Offiah and Edwards swept through to send Robinson hurtling in at the corner, and this was quickly followed by a second try by 'Billy Whiz,' which resulted from a baffling piece of sleight-of-hand from Paul, who also landed the extra points to the latter touchdown.

The Kiwi stand-off then landed a penalty goal after being fouled by Goulding, and the alarm bells were ringing in earnest for Saints after 35 minutes when Connolly and Edwards carved out a try by the corner flag for the awesome Tuigamala. Then Connolly intelligently chipped ahead from half-way and narrowly failed to touch down in a desperate race with Prescott.

Facing arrears of 22-7, Saints restarted in positive manner when Hammond's slick dummy and pass saw Newlove hold off Connolly in a thrilling 60-yard run to the line, and Goulding's angled conversion gave the massive travelling support more than a glimmer of hope that Saints' fightback was set to take off.

And to it appeared with Hunte and Pickavance held up in the nick of time but once again handling errors proved to be Saints' Achilles heel, and such largesse allowed Wigan to re-assert themselves when that man Robinson raced through, shook off Prescott's tackle and though held by substitute Andy Northey, managed to slip the ball to Murdock, who scooted 30 yards to the posts for Martin Hall to goal. Saints then enjoyed the rub of the green when Connolly raced 80 yards to the try-line, only to be brought back by referee David Campbell who had spotted a previous knock-on, but the decision was only a brief respite for suffering Saints as Hall landed a close-in penalty goal after Goulding was cautioned for a foul on Terry O'Connor.

Wigan's dominance was complete when Tuigamala removed four would-be tacklers from his path to send in Simon Haughton for a try between the uprights.

Robinson rounded off Wigan's scoring with a first-ever drop goal but, game to the last on the longest day when an 18th successive win proved a match too far for Saints, they nonetheless contrived to have the final say when Cunningham and Goulding engineered a consolation try for Chris Morley which, on balance, gave the visitors a somewhat flattering margin of defeat.

Wigan: Robinson; Smyth, Connolly, Tuigamala, Offiah; Paul, Edwards; Cowie, Hall, O'Connor, Haughton, Cassidy, Farrell. Murdock for Paul (37), Quinnell for Cowie, Craig for Smyth (65), Cowie for O'Connor (70), Johnson for Farrell (73).

Saints: Prescott; Arnold, Hunte, Newlove, Sullivan; Hammond, Goulding; Perelini, Cunningham, Fogerty, McVey, Booth, Joynt. Substitutes Morley for Booth (19), Northey for Sullivan (40), Pickavance for Fogerty (50), McAtee not used.

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