Both sides meeting in tonight's clash at Langtree Park had their eyes fixed firmly on top spot. For the Warriors, a win tonight would see them two points clear at the top, but should the home side take the two points then they would be within one point of both the Warriors and the Rhinos with one game left to the semi-finals.

The 'original' derby stage was set for a cracker and the two sides didn't fail to deliver as they served up a high-intensity humdinger of a game where no quarter was asked or given.

The opening ten minutes was a comedy of errors with both sides looking nervous and jumpy.

When a Jordan Turner try was ruled out for a blatant obstruction Wigan took advantage quickly and within a minute, Joel Tomkins stepped out of a tackle off a Matty Smith pass to go under the sticks and give Matty Bowen a simple conversion.

After sustaining a Wigan onslaught for twenty minutes Saints finally struck back on thirty-three when Luke Walsh went through a gap off a short pass to score by the sticks. Walsh converted his own try for 6-6.

The half finished with a boiling over of temperatures and all twenty-six players involved in two mass brawls. This game was simmering nicely and with the sides all tied up, it promised to be a cracking second half.

Wigan opened the second half scoring when James Roby was penalised, somewhat controversially, for interference at the play-the-ball. Matty Bowen kicked the penalty to ease his side two points clear.

On fifty a superb George Williams solo try jinking and stepping over fifty metres gave Bowen a simple kick to make it 14-6 and gave Saints a lot of work to do.

Five minutes later and Adam Swift struck back as Saints kept the ball alive, pushed the ball wide and Swift stepped off both feet to come inside and ground in the corner. Walsh kicked the two and we were back with a two point ball game.

After again sustaining a long period of Warriors pressure it was Saints who scored a try out of nothing. Attacking the Wigan line for the first time in ten minutes a John Wilkin kick was collected by Josh Jones who went the remaining ten metres to dive over. Luke Walsh kicked and Saints had pinched the game by 18-14.

Wigan bossed this high-intensity game from early on until the seventy-eighth minute when Saints conjured a try out of nothing to snatch the two points and take the race for the minor premiership into the last week with four sides still capable of winning it.

Just one point separates first from fourth going into the final round of fixtures as the sides jostle for home advantage and the prize for finishing on top of the pile.

Saints: Quinlan, Makinson, Percival, Jones (T), Swift (T), Turner, Walsh (T, 3G), Amor, Roby, Savelio, Greenwood, McCarthy-Scarsbrook, Wilkin. Subs: Masoe, Flanagan, Richards, Vea.

Warriors: Bowen (3G), Charnley, Bateman, Gildart, Burgess, Williams (T), Smith, Crosby, McIllorum, Flower, Tomkins (T), Patrick, O'Loughlin. Subs: Gelling, Powell, Clubb, Mossop.

Referee: Rob Hicks
Attendance: 15,808