Warrington Wolves were left to deal with some last-minute selection changes, with a number of players in key positions pulling out through injury.
Wire took a narrow 12-4 victory at the Halliwell Jones Stadium, in a game that boss Sam Burgess described as “strange”.
Josh Smith bagged two tries for the home side, whilst Toby King could have dotted down, however it was ruled out for a knock-on.
Many were expecting the Wolves put a big score on the Black and Whites, who came into this game off the back of three straight defeats, two of which came from promoted sides.
However, FC stuck in the game and did create chances to potentially lead the game, however they would come up short in what is their sixth loss in their last seven games.
Warrington’s plan was first dented 24 hours before kick-off, with one key man pulled out of the side. One became two just hours before the game, when another man dropped out through illness.
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Josh Thewlis was set to play at full-back, but the boss revealed that soreness meant he was left out as a precaution, with Lachlan Webster filling in at the number one role.
On the day of the game, a decision was made on half-back Ewan Irwin, in what was a second change to the Warrington spine.
“Ewan was sick,” boss Burgess said post-match. “He’d been sick for the past 48 hours, but today [Friday] is probably his worst day.
“”We just made the call about 4:00pm today, so it’s a pretty late call with him, but he’ll be fine. He should be good for next week.”
In his place came Marc Sneyd, who didn’t have his best game against his former club, however Burgess hinted there may be a reason for that.
“That was the team [Irwin and Leon Hayes in the halves], Sneyd was not playing again.
“He’s actually got a niggle in his foot, so he’s not been training a great deal either.”
Cai Taylor-Wray and James Harrison were both set to return this week, but the game came too early and they will have to wait until Thursday’s trip to St Helens to have a chance at coming back into the side.
Those two, along with James Bentley (suspended) Irwin and Thewlis could mean that Burgess has up to five players returning to the side next week.
