Smith disappointed as late try denies Wire

Tony Smith admitted Saturday’s Magic Weekend finale between Warrington and Wigan didn’t deliver the quality he’d expect from the two teams.

THe Wolves were denied victory as Joe Burgess’ late try secured a 24-24 draw for the Warriors and leave Smith frustrated by the outcome.

“We’re disappointed – I’m sure Wigan are too,” said Smith. “When you work your way into a winning opportunity and then you don’t win it’s disappointing.

“Wigan could say exactly the same thing. I thought they had themselves in a possible winning situation – maybe with a lot more time to go at that stage than us – but we certainly got into a situation where we could have won that game and should have won had we managed it better.

“I’m not questioning the character of either squad as I thought that was shown in abundance by both team – I’m going to say to Wigan as well as they invited us back into that game on a number of occasions.

“I said to Rich Agar when Stef (Stefan Ratchford) hit the post on that kick ‘I think we’ll go on and win from here’ – I felt the momentum had come around to us and that we were coming home strong. I was nearly right.

“I don’t think Wigan were at their best and I don’t think we were either. Can I take going home on a long trip with one point off Wigan? Yes, we’ll have to but it could have been a whole lot better if we’d been a bit smarter by the end.”