ANOTHER week, another top notch performance from James Roby, who again waltzed off with maximum points in the Steve Prescott Man of Steel voting.

Roby was outstanding - with his searing runs, on top of his workrate, probably the biggest difference between winning and losing in the tightest of games against a dogged Wakefield Trinity side that simply kept coming back.

He was not alone; and in a game typical of the recent tight ebb-and- flow encounters at a blowy Belle Vue Saints had to did pretty deep to find a way to win with commendable efforts from the hard-grafting Morgan Knowles and a mature display from Jonny Lomax at six.

Saints had looked well in control in the first 20 when Knowles had powered over from close range, but then the odd dropped ball or misfired kick gave Trinity the invitation they needed to bombard the Saints line - with David Fifita’s thundering charges and the shrewd play of halves Jacob Miller and the pugnacious Danny Brough asking plenty of questions.

Lachlan Coote received a welcome to Wakefield ­— and to the problems Brough’s boot can cause.

It was a mixed bag from him, but on the credit side two pieces of sheer brilliance set up tries for Tommy Makinson and Regan Grace although he won’t want to look at the two restart kicks going out on the full again.

Recruits like Coote from the NRL will have their performances subjected to extra scrutiny, and he won’t want to look at the two kick offs going out on the full again.

On the whole, Saints defended magnificently ­— and that gutsy determination was another key factor in the win.

They have, however, already taken a look at the right edge defence pulled apart quite simply on three occasions for the two Tom Johnstone tries and Bill Tupou’s effort.

It did, with two minutes to go, look like Saints were going to make history and head into the first regular Super League golden point game.

With no Danny Richardson out there, and with Wakefield having the sure-footed Brough, the odds were probably with Trinity.

Thankfully a super run and pass from Lomax, backed up by an energetic Louie McCarthy-Scarsbrook took that out of the equation.

Wakefield 18 Saints 24

Wakefield: Hampshire; Jones-Bishop, Lyne, Tupou, Johnstone; Milller, Brough; Fifita, Wood, England, Ashurst, Kirmond. Subs: Arona, Horo, Huby, Kopczak.

Saints: Coote; Makinson, Naiqama, Percival, Grace; Lomax, Fages; Walmsley, Roby, Thompson, Taia, Peyroux, Knowles. Subs: Paulo, McCarthy-Scarsbrook, Lees, Amor.