Steve Price full of respect for ‘fantastic’ Swinton as Warrington progress in Challenge Cup

Warrington boss Steve Price admits his side were pushed all the way by a ‘fantastic’ Swinton outfit in their Challenge Cup last 16 tie. 

The Super League outfit saw themselves 8-4 down after the opening 20 minutes before scoring 28 unanswered points to set up a quarter-final meeting with Catalans. 

Matty Ashton scored against his former side before being taken off with a head knock, while Toby King also crossed twice. 

Speaking post-match, Price had nothing but praise for his opposition. 

He said: “I pay a huge amount of respect to the opposition – I thought Swinton were fantastic. They had a really good go and tried to unsettle us and spoiled the ruck well.

“They moved the ball around and asked us plenty of questions, so I think we need to pay them a lot of respect.”

It was a close-fought contest throughout, but late scores for Ashton and Danny Walker gave the scoreline a somewhat flattering look.

READ: Swinton 8-32 Warrington: Wolves reach quarter-finals of Challenge Cup

Despite running out eventual winners by a comfortable margin, Price admits his side need to sharpen up in multiple areas if they harbour ambitions of progressing further in the competition. 

“There were a lot of things we were certainly not happy with,” he said.

“I’m happy we are through to the next round (where Warrington will face Catalans Dragons) and there were some good parts but there were some that were unacceptable. “It was a frustrating game to watch.”

Speaking about former Swinton flyer Ashton, he added: “Matty took a bit of a knock but was pretty lively in the changing rooms and remembers the game so hopefully there is not too much wrong.

“It was nice for him to get on the scoresheet against his former club because he was part of the furniture at Swinton.

“I was looking at a picture in the club of him being a ball boy as a five-year-old kid, so he has a lot of good memories at Swinton and it was just unfortunate he couldn’t finish the game.”

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