‘Frustrating’ Wolves in lacklustre win over Swinton
WARRINGTON coach Steve Price admitted it was a “frustrating game to watch” as his side limped to a lacklustre 32-8 Betfred Challenge Cup win over Championship outfit Swinton.
The sides were locked at 8-8 as Swinton certainly tested their more illustrious opponents until two late firsthalf tries from Toby King and Blake Austin, both converted by Stefan Ratchford, gave Warrington a 20-8 half-time advantage.
But things did not improve much for the Wolves after the break as they only added to their tally 13 minutes from time with a try from former Swinton old boy Matty Ashton, while Danny Walker’s late effort gave the final scoreline a somewhat flattering look.
Wolves boss Steve Price said: “There were a lot of things we were certainly not happy with. I’m happy we are through to the next round (where Warrington will face Catalans Dragons) and there were some good parts but there were some that were unacceptable. It was a frustrating game to watch.
“I pay a huge amount of respect to the opposition - I thought Swinton were fantastic.
“They had a really good go and tried to unsettle us and spoiled the ruck well and they moved the ball around and asked us plenty of questions so we need to pay them a lot of respect.”
There was a try-scoring return for Swinton old boy Ashton, although his afternoon ended early after he suffered what at first looked like a serious head knock.
Price added: “Matty took a bit of a knock but was pretty lively in the changing rooms and remembers the game so hopefully not too much wrong.”
Swinton coach Stuart Littler said: “I’m massively proud of our efforts, Warrington have world-class players with strike all over the park and we saw the energy from the lads working for each other in abundance.”