Unbelievable drama as Liam Farrell wins the game for Wigan in Golden Point

Wigan Warriors left it late as hat-trick hero Liam Farrell won the game with a try in Golden Point.

Just five seconds of the first half of Golden Point remained as the Wigan skipped flew over for his third of the evening on an unbelievable night of action at Craven Park.

The win leaves Wigan sitting second in the Betfred Super League heading into Magic Weekend at Newcastle’s St James Park.

It was the home side who dominated large parts of the first half, regularly tying Wigan to their own try line as some questionable defending remained fairly unpunished in the first half.

But with just over 10 minutes gone, Liam Farrell shocked the home crowd after he was set free by Liam Marshall down the left to opening the scoring at Craven Park.

Despite putting their names on the scoreboard first, the needless errors just kept on coming for the Warriors who continued to knock-on and put themselves on their own try line.

Just past the half-way mark in the first 40 minutes, Hull KR drew themselves level thanks to Ryan Hall powering over in the corner which saw the video referee award a try.

That was the peak of popularity for the officials as the home faithful grew ever frustrated with the man in the middle Jack Smith, who left some questioned forward passes from Matt Peet’s side well alone.

KR continued to press the Wigan back line and had a couple of near misses as Wigan clung on for dear life.

But against the run of play once again, Wigan retook the lead and it was déjà vu as Liam Marshall again broke down a vacated left hand-side before feeding Farrell for his second of the night.

There was time for one more slice of controversy as Ryan Hall looked to mirror his first try and get in at the far corner. But a combination of the young Junior Nsemba along-with the video referee, deemed Hall to have ran into touch and the try was ruled out leaving the interval score at 4-10 to the visitors.

The second half started with plenty of ‘six again’ calls for the visitors, and they took full advantage of KR’s appalling defending down the left hand-side as Marshall turned scorer this time after Bevan French turned on the pace.

Smith’s third conversion of the night was delayed with play temporarily suspended by referee Smith due to a drone flying over the pitch but once play got back underway, Smith’s kick was sliced wide again, leaving Wigan leading by 10.

But it didn’t take long for that lead to be slashed. With KR pressing and the noise of Craven Park rising, they finally showed some creativity in the final metres with Matt Parcell showing great awareness to finish despite having his back to the sticks, cutting the lead to just four points.

In what seemed to be a pattern of play, Wigan turned the screw as pressure was mounting against them and when French looked certain to score, Ryan Hall took for one for his side with a professional foul which was met with a sin-binning.

The momentum still continued to flow for KR though and it was James Batchelor who went over after a neat one-two in front of the sticks before Luis Johnson put KR into a healthy lead with just over ten minutes to play.

That’s when chaos struck. Liam Marshall rose highest to catch a Harry Smith kick and give Wigan a lifeline on 73 minutes as they trailed by four, and then they drew level.

After Marshall couldn’t get in down the left, they pulled the ball right and Abbas Miski flew into the corner to draw the game level with no time left on the clock.

Harry Smith stepped up with a chance to win the game, but missed his fourth conversion of the night which meant the game would enter golden point.

KR got the extra period underway, kicking towards the fan zone end of Craven Park first. Smith was again loose with his feet and gave the Robins a strong opportunity to attack and when it came to Mikey Lewis on three minutes, his effort struck the post and fell to an offside red shirt.

With time seemingly up for the first half, Wigan turned on the style and scenes well and truly erupted. Bevan French twisted and turned before spotting a gap and exploiting the space and when it looked certain that he could kick, he found Farrell who raced through for his hat-trick with five seconds left on the clock.

An unbelievable ending to a night which Wigan had very little possession and some possible fortunate decisions go in their favour, but a night those travelling Warriors fans won’t forget in a long, long time.

The Warriors look ahead now to a clash against French side Catalans Dragons whilst Hull KR face Salford Red Devils in the Magic Weekend opener.

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