PICTURE gallery: Saints win a stormy derby at Wigan Warriors to climb into top four

Unlike the previous clash between the sides on Good Friday Saints refused to be bullied and in the end were more than a match for a Wigan pack bolstered by the return of skipper Sean O’Loughlin, long-term absentee John Bateman and fielding new boy Frank-Paul Nu’uausala.

The win lifts them into fourth, although Catalans have a game in hand – heights unimaginable six weeks ago.

But psychologically the win – only their second against a top four this term – was vital to show that Saints can mix it with Super League’s top sides after the split.

There was certainly plenty of crackle in the air from the start, with Sam Tomkins going high on Matty Fleming, and towards the end a melee, sparked by an incident between Nu’uausala and Louie McCarthy-Scarsbrook, seemed to involve all players one way or another.

In the end it was the two blamed for starting it who were punished with yellow cards, but the match review panel may take a closer look.

It was certainly a derby that had the lot, and after some disappointing Friday nights this term it was good to hear the Saints players belting out a raucous rendition of “Oh when the Saints…” in the dressing room afterwards.

Although Saints smartly took the chances that came their way, even when they were two-pointers, it was their defensive resolve that paved the way for this victory.

At one point they defended five consecutive sets on their own line, courtesy of three penalties and a drop, until they eventually forced a Wigan error.

It was impressive when they did it last week against basement side Huddersfield, but even more so against a team challenging for the top on their own midden.

The Warriors did not roll over by any means, and there were times in the second half where they themselves produced some ‘Mad Dog’ defence to stop Saints getting out of their own 20.

But Saints did not panic in the face of that, nor did they retreat or look for a short cut or an easy way out, rather they kept on pitching forward, eventually turning inches into feet and then giving Jordan Turner and Luke Walsh a fighting chance to get the kick away.

Saints started well when stand-off Turner created half a chance for centre Fleming to dash to the line only to be felled by a high shot from Sam Tomkins.

Saints fans bayed for the Wigan full back to be red-carded, but it probably did them a favour – Tomkins subsequently had a shocker and will never spill as much ball in a match this year.

Sensing points may be hard to come by Mark Percival slotted the penalty to open the scoring.

But Wigan soon responded when young half George Williams tapped a grubber through for winger Lewis Tierney dive on in the corner.

Matty Smith failed with the conversion and Saints levelled with another Percival penalty after Wigan second rower Willie Isa was penalised for lifting and dumping Turner.

At the other end Percival rattled Tomkins and was penalised – and although Bateman went close with a powerful run, Saints held them out.

But after a nip and tuck war of attrition Saints clinically seized control of the game with two tries in the last eight minutes of the first half.

Again, a familiar feature of recent weeks, it was the classy input of full back Jonny Lomax who weaved through after picking up from a scrappy play to fire a fine ball wide for Percival to dart through.

And after Nu’uausala had flopped on Walsh Saints pressed again with Morgan Knowles cashing in on the dog’s breakfast Tomkins had made in trying to clear up Turner's grubber kick.

With Percival being deadly accurate with the boot Saints had a 16-4 half-time lead.

But the Warriors enjoyed plenty of ball and field position from the outset of the second half and threw everything at a Saints line that until three weeks ago had been decidedly shaky in defence.

But they held firm, eventually frustrating the Warriors into mistakes and leading to a hush on three sides of the stadium.

On 48 minutes it did look as though Warriors had breached the line –Tomkins thought so at least, but he could not ground due to the amount of Saints tacklers getting underneath him at the crucial time.

Saints never count their chickens in derby games – fans with long memories can recall times when Wigan have edged this fixture late on, but Saints defensive line could not be dented.

Jack Owens’ tackle on try-line bound Tierney embodied the determination to keep the Cherry and Whites out 10 minutes from the end.

And in a rare second half foray over the half line clinical Saints took this as the opportunity to build for a drop goal – one which Walsh executed with precision from 35 metres.

That made it a three score lead and the game in the bag, but there was no tapering off in intensity after a smart Wigan kick off found touch.

The game had no little needle, with the high tackles and the ill-feeling from seeing Swift nudged into the perimeter wall, but that finally exploded late on in the sort of free-for-all not seen in this fixture since the infamous set-to of Good Friday 2004.

Dan Sarginson knocked on just as the Wigan Walk was in full flow, providing the back drop for Saints to apply the coup de grace.

After a fine break from the quietly impressive Fleming, the young centre held up well in the tackle before releasing to Walsh. James Roby supported up the middle to storm over for a wonder try with Percival adding his fifth goal as the hooter sounded.

Teams: S Tomkins; Tierney, Sarginson, Gildart, Manfredi; Williams, Smith; Sutton, Powell, Flower, Isa, Bateman, O'Loughlin. Subs: Crosby, Mossop, Nu'uasala, Shorrocks.

Saints: Lomax; Owens, Fleming, Percival, Swift; Turner, Walsh; Walmsley, Roby, Richards, McCarthy-Scarsbrook, Greenwood, Wilkin. Subs: Amor, Vea, Thompson, Knowles.