DANNY HAS AXE FACTOR Houghton hero after England snub TRINITY HIT TRIPLE TROUBLE

Unhappy hooker Houghton and Hull team-mate Jamie Shaul were axed from Wayne Bennett’s elite performance squad last week.

But the reigning Man of Steel took out his frustration on Shaun Wane’s Warriors as the Black and Whites ended a run of three straight defeats.

Full- back Shaul also produced a vital try to halt Wigan’s comeback.

Houghton set up Steve Michaels’ two first-half tries then touched down himself as Hull led 26-4 at the break.

The visitors finished the half on the wrong end of an 8-0 penalty c o unt a nd Liam Farrell – on his 200th Wigan appearance – was sin-binned for dissent by referee Phil Bentham.

Wigan’s woes began before they arrived on Humberside with skipper Sean O’Loughlin ruled out with hamstring trouble.

Stand-in captain Thomas Leuluai lasted only seven minutes before going off with suspected concussion.

By then Hull were already in front thanks largely to the A n g l o - Au s s i e a x i s o f Houghton and Michaels.

And Hull increased their lead after 13 minutes as Mark Minichiello celebrated a new 12-month contract.

The Aussie back-rower, 35, brushed off three tacklers and held on despite Lewis Tierney’s sliding tackle which earned Hull a penalty try.

Michaels’ second try owed everything to Houghton’s brilliant long pass before the provider went over from Danny Washbrook’s mazy run. Jake Connor converted both plus a penalty but Tom Davies pulled a try back for Wigan after 36 minutes.

Fellow winger Liam Marshall went over four minutes after the restart to improve chances of a comeback.

Andwhen f u l l - b a ck Tierney finished off a super spell of passing and Marshall kicked the conversion, Wigan were back to within two scores of levelling the contest.

But there was delight for home supporters when Shaul followed up his own kick after 59 minutes for a try brilliantly goaled by Nick Rawsthorne.

And mercurial half-back Albert Kelly raced 85 metres to seal the points and also landed a drop goal.

Wigan did not give up and added late tries from Joe Burgess, Marshall and Davies.

But the Warriors converted only one of their six tries to add to Wane’s considerable headaches. SECOND-PLACED Salford will be hoping to take advantage of any slip by Castleford when they host fifth-placed Wakefield today.

Trinity will be hoping to overcome a triple injury blow and claim a sixth successive victory.

New signing Adam Walker, tough-tackling forward Tinirau Arona and stand-off Jacob Miller are facing lengthy lay-offs.

But Wakefield coach Chris Chester remains confident his side can maintain their surprise JACK UTTLEY challenge at the AJ Bell Stadium this afternoon.

“We’re going to have to do it the tough way after picking up injuries at the weekend,” he said.

“Hard work has got us in this position and it’s going to take hard work over the next seven weeks to keep us there.”

The game will be a dress rehearsal for the Challenge Cup quarter-final at the same venue later this month.

But Salford coach Ian Watson says that will not enter his players’ minds.

“We will in no way be thinking about the Challenge Cup,” said Watson.

“We have two really important league games before that, with this Sunday’s game and then against Hull the following week.” after the postponement of their scheduled game at Huddersfield on Monday.

They could also be boosted by the return of England full-back Jonny Lomax, 26 (above).

They are one of only three teams to beat the leaders so far this season and will be keen to erase the memory of their humiliating 53-10 defeat last month.

“We have already got the better of them once this season but we were poor against them in the cup. We don’t want to play like that again,” said Holbrook.

The game will mark the 200th appearance of St Helens forward Louie McCarthy-Scarsbrook, while team-mate Kyle Amor will bring up his century.

Elsewhere, Widnes can climb off the foot of the table by posting their first back-to-back wins of the season when they host Catalans Dragons.

And Huddersfield give a debut to ex-St Helens ace Jordan Turner against Warrington at the John Smith’s Stadium.