Super League: Wakefield Trinity 12-13 St Helens - Jack Welsby drop-goal gives Saints win

St Helens celebrate their comeback win sealed by Jack Welsby's drop goal

A golden-point drop-goal from Jack Welsby saw Super League leaders St Helens come from 12-0 down to defeat bottom side Wakefield Trinity.

Jorge Taufua gave Trinity a 12th-minute lead, with Jack Croft also scoring to put the hosts 10-0 up at the break.

A Mason Lino penalty extended their lead before Regan Grace's 56th-minute try got Saints on the scoreboard.

Jonathan Bennison levelled to take it to extra time before Welsby snatched the match-ending score on 84 minutes.

The dramatic comeback sees Saints extend their lead over Wigan at the top of the table to six points, while unfortunate Trinity stay bottom on points difference from Toulouse.

Heavy rain made conditions tricky early on, with mistakes from Joey Lussick and Bennison forcing Saints back and, after several sets, Lino sent Taufua over in the corner to put Trinity ahead.

Lino's kick struck the post but Wakefield kept the pressure on and forced further errors from Saints, allowing Wakefield's scrum-half to make amends by slotting a penalty to extend the lead to six points after 24 minutes.

It got even better two minutes later when Saints' Welsby palmed the ball infield while attempting to prevent a 40/20, only for it to fall to Croft who touched down to see the hosts take a 10-0 advantage into half-time.

Curtis Sironen got stuck into the Wakefield defence, in a game affected by heavy rainfall

Lino's 47th-minute penalty stretched the lead to 12 before Saints finally got on the scoresheet through Grace's try in the corner, which was converted by Jonny Lomax to make it 12-6.

The visitors pushed for a second and levelled things up at 12-12 after 69 minutes, with Konrad Hurrell feeding Bennison to dot down and Lomax adding the extras from the tee.

As the clock ticked down both sides missed drop-goal attempts to win it in normal time, with Lomax and Lussick missing for Saints before Wakefield's Miller sent a last-minute kick wide.

That sent the game into golden-point, with Lino narrowly off-target with an effort before Welsby sent his between the sticks to seal the win.

Wakefield head coach Willie Poching told BBC Radio Leeds:

"It's very tough. I thought we did enough but unfortunately it wasn't to be. We can be proud of a lot of the things we did today, we took some real strides forward.

"The mood in the dressing room is pretty dejected. To have that output of effort and not get anything is gut-wrenching. It was our best defensive performance of the season, so there's lots of positives. We can do that and do it against the best.

"I'm not a fan of golden-point. There was hardly any football played, it was a kickathon. For the effort, the draw should be enough but I understand people like car crash TV."

St Helens boss Kristian Woolf:

"Wakefield deserve credit. They showed up with a great energy and won that first half. It was a good lesson for us because we weren't where we needed to be in the first half.

"We didn't back up the energy from last week's game. But there was a good sign because we showed some real character and fight in the second half that it meant something to us.

"He [Welsby] has played much better games for us than that. But he came up with the crucial play under pressure when it really mattered to help us win the game."

Wakefield: Whitbread, Hood, Arona, Ashurst, Tanginoa, Batchelor, Miller, Lino, Murphy, Gaskell, Croft, Taufua, Shaul.

Interchanges: Fifita, Crowther, Battye, Bowden.

St Helens: Welsby, Bennison, Hurrell, Davies, Grace, Lomax, Roby, Walmsley, Lussick, Lees, Sironen, Batchelor, Wingfield.

Interchanges: McCarthy-Scarsbrook, Paasi, Bell, Norman.

Referee: Ben Thaler.

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