Wigan made it 12 wins in succession with a close fought win over a battling Wakefield side to go five points clear at the top of the table.
Wigan opened the scoring on their first attack in the sixth minute as quick hands from Tomkins and Smith allowed Goulding to sweep a pass out to Charnley who flew in at the corner with Richards adding the conversion for a 0-6 lead.
Eight minutes later and the away side were in again after Wakefield conceded a penalty for offside, Charnley capitalised and snuck over for his and Wigan's second try but Richards missed the conversion putting Wigan 0-10 to the good.
Wakefield pulled one back in the 19th minute as Wigan were penalised for offside and a quick tap and play to the right gave Collis space to dive over and Smith added the goal bringing them to 6-10 but they added a quick second as Kirmond found a gap in the Wigan defence to go over and Smith's second goal gave the home side the lead.
Wigan should have regained the lead in the 35th minute but Tuson was unable to ground the ball from close range and it proved costly as at the other end a missed tackle gave Wood good space and he hit Wakefield's third and despite Smith missing the conversion, they led 16-10.
As the hooter sounded, Smith hit a superb drop goal from 40 metres to increase the lead to 17-10 at half time and give Wigan an uphill task in the second period.
Wigan took to their task instantly as within a minute of the restart, Tomkins making good yards from the kick off and a powering run from Flower got Wigan closer to the line resulting in Hansen grounding after a turn in the tackle with Richards converting to narrow the score to 17-16.
Wigan could have taken the lead after a clever Powell kick to the corner but Richards was unable to gather the ball as Wakefield were left short out wide. Wakefield increased the lead in he 52nd minute as Kirmond swept threw the middle to go under the posts and Cockayne added the extras for a 23-16 lead.
Charnley sealed his hat-trick on the hour mark after a Wood kick went out on the full on the final tackle and Richards added the goal to bring it down to a single point at 23-22. A superb 40/20 by Matty Smith gave Wigan a great opportunity to pressure the Wildcats line but a forward pass wasted the chance but Wigan regained the line nine minutes from the end as McIlorum found Mossop who dived under the stick and Richards' goal put them 23-28 up.
Richards swept over a penalty with four minutes to go to open up a seven point lead and Wigan completed the comeback with barely minutes to go as Goulding went over and Richards' final conversion sealed a 23-36 win and kept the unbeaten run intact.
In the preview, I did predict with the caution that Wakefield would repeat their performance from earlier in the season and a 13 point win was a surprise after I had predicted a 22 point margin and on hindsight thought that would be a low guess but as i suggested during the commentary, Wakefield have been top scorers against Wigan in each game yet sit 10th in the standings so what are they doing wrong against the other 12 sides that is keeping them in that position.
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