SAINTS have a ridiculously good away record of 18 wins from 19 against Warrington since the Halliwell Jones opened in 2004.

But to put a pin in that bubble, Saints have lost three Challenge Cup semi-finals — against Huddersfield, Wigan and Leeds – at the stadium; history and statistics that will count for little come 8pm Thursday) evening.

The two sides meet in the sudden death Super League semi-final with the winners going on to the Grand Final at Old Trafford and the losers’ season ending.

Saints go into the game as underdogs against the newly crowned League Leaders’ Shield winners, but coach Keiron Cunningham feels that has taken some of the pressure off.

He said: “These are the games that you want to be involved in. We have got to go to a tough place in Warrington and play against a really good side.

“But if you have any ambition of doing anything you have got to beat tough sides.

“We will have a good crack at it.”

Having effectively secured qualification through the Super 8s weeks ago, the last three games have been low-key affairs but all of a sudden there will be a massive shift in intensity for the do-or-die tussles.

“All of a sudden it is real and you are involved in probably one of the biggest games in the year for us.

“Even without what is resting on the outcome of the game, a Saints v Warrington match is a big game any way. It is going to be exceptionally tough, but I don’t believe the pressure is on us.

“We are being tagged as a potential banana skin for Warrington at the minute, which suits us.

“We would like to prove otherwise on Thursday night. I reckon if we had gone unbeaten all year we would have still been the underdogs, that is just the way we are perceived by the press and other media outlets.

“We are used to that.

“We have just got to fight hard and stick together with everything we do on Thursday night.

“If we are going to go down, we are going to go down swinging.

"The boys enjoy playing at Warrington and I love coaching there – it is a great atmosphere in that great, small stadium that is going to be rocking on Thursday night.

"All that form and all that history goes out of the window on semi final day.

“We have got to be good, and a little bit better than what we have been the last three weeks but I am sure that this game means a hell of a lot more to us than those previous ones,” Cunningham said.