similarly, had roby not kicked out on the full before half time, pryce wouldn't have scored. had foster found touch, we'd have been attacking your line, at the very least, you'd have been starting the set of tackles on your line, with 90 seconds further gone. had foster taken the ball in the corner, it'd been over..

you can say that about any game really

nothing like being gracious in victory eh.

one of my favourite parts was one of the wigan lasses kissing her 'kooga' badge.. i think if she saw the funny side of it

I'll be perfectly honest, the better team won today. Although it has to be said there was parts during the match Wigan dominated, as did Saints, but overall Saints did what mattered - took thier chances.

I've read/heard alot of people say 'IF Meli's try was dis-allowed" or "IF Pat would of taken that ball". IMO, its a lame excuse relying on 'what if's'. For your information, I thought it was a try from Meli and a very well taken one too.

You took your chances, we didn't and thats as simple as it get's. I don't think either team out-enthused/outplayed one another as TBF we both were evenly matched for large parts of the game.

So now it's your turn to gloat, but a deserved turn.

Another 40mins and it could of been different. Score might of been higher than 2 points, hell we might even of won. But we didn't. We did not take our chances, St Helens were far more clinical and smarter than us. Stop saying 'if this' 'if that'. If Adolf Hitler wasn't born we wouldn't of had a Second World War. He was. It happened. Get over it.

top post..

there's not a lot between saints, wire, wigan and leeds (despite todays performance) hull and huddersfield aren't far behind..

ifs and buts are the difference between winning and losing

The sweetest part of today for me was that we won and did so with such a fantastic performance. That must be our best of the season so far. It was a joy to watch, even if I did need heart tablets during those last ten minutes.

What is this about taking your chances? Didn't we prevent you from converting those chances? Isn't that what sport is? I can only presume it means you had chances where you fluffed your lines having beat our defence, but I think these have been imagined. I can only really think of one occasion when Richards bombed a try, but Foster did the same for us, plus Cunningham flumped an overlap by passing over Moores head, so I reckon the not taking chances score's about even. Sorry, I forgot to quote in this post, but I've seen several wigan fans talking about 'bombing tries' and not taking chances

Correct mate. I find it extremely frustrating when people use 'what if' as a way of claiming a victory despite a clear loss. You deserved your victory IMHO.

It's not often you'll find me coming on these boards to congratulate a derby win, but today's game was epic. I took my 6year old cousin to his first taste of RL today, he loved every single second. It's a credit to both sets of players and fans that today was as good as it was, the atmosphere was something I've not experienced at any SL game in a long long time.

Albeit I'm disappointed with the result, after all I am a Wigan fan! However I cannot take away a deserved victory.

When I say we didn't take our chances I don't just mean try wise. I mean pressure wise, we had a roll on started to put your defence to the test and taking it to near breaking point, then we dropped the ball/gave a stupid penalty away etc etc. Your right in saying there was only one try we bombed. But we bombed chances to create tries by taking the wrong option at times. I credit your defence and attack as it was brutal and efficient. You took your chances to score tries, create pressure etc etc. Overall you deserved a win.

Having just watched my sky+ recording I would say that is a very good assessment. I think had Karl Pryce remained fit and stayed on Wigan could have won that game. Two very good chances went to our left in the last 10 minutes and I'm not sure Foster would have taken that ball with the big man pounding down on him.

Great game to be at, and a great game to watch on the t.v.

Makes the football look cr@p doesn't it?

I must admit, it was a relif when the ball went out wide and you were threatening to relise that is was Carmont we had to stop,but from further out foster may have been able to get him round the legs with a good chance of bringing him down. For his try he was too close to the line and Foster had to go high - only one result.

I'm interested to know your opinion on Pryce since his resurgence?

I hope K Pryce continues his resurgence, he's exactly what England need. It was always going to be a tough ask for Foster against him and he did get run over once, but in the second half he did tackle him into touch which I thought was immense

But what is he? Immense winger who's ripping it up, scoring tries as he pleases .. or just a big lad playing on the wing for the top o'league club who suffers from the occasional bout of tin man syndrome?

That is an excellent question! He's a definite confidence player, for Englands sake i just hope he continues this form

I think the first big hit he gets sees him run for the hills as he did yesterday, he'll never gain the mental strength needed for international honours, which is a shame as he's got the physical attributes to cause the Aussies problems.

I am. He was the slightest man on the pitch and he had plenty of Wigan players pounding towards him but he lept and took that ball like a seasoned professional. That lad had balls of steel and he knew how important that catch was to the end result. I have no doubt he would have been equally committed had Karl Pryce been on the pitch. No doubt at all.

talk about taking and bombing chances.wigans decision to take 2 points after 1o minutes of pressure against saints was the biggest bombed chance of the afternoon.i am convinced if they had tapped it they would have scored a try.i was very glad when they went for 2.even without the penalty i think they would have scored in that set.

That to me showed a complete lack of confidence in themselves. Saints will have taken a lot from that, and will have lifted defensively. I couldn't believe that decision TBH.

Hmmm, not sure I agree. Whilst they could have gone on to score a try, they chose to take the two imo to settle themselves; as we have seen very often, getting the first points on the board in a derby can be very important, especially given the fact they then get the ball back and re-continue the pressure on our defence. It also has an effect on the two sets of supporters, quietening us down momentarily and picking their fans up even more.

the funny thing is that lass (gemma is her name) used to be a saints fan she still lives in one of the streets near knowsley road

I disagree completely. They looked pretty settled and looked like scoring on our line, we was defending pretty well but both times they put kicks in behind and the first time Meli nearly ballsed up and Roberts come close, the second time Richards managed to knock the ball back, so both Wigan players got there first and weren't a million miles away from scoring. They had us under pressure, and them taking the two points relieved the pressure. They do get the ball back, but they get it back deep in there own half and have to re-build to put the pressure back on our line. Also, i think that a lot of there fans also thought it was the wrong decision, so it didn't really pick them up and a quite a few Saints fans were relieved to see the kick at goal, rather than a try, thus picking us up. It works both ways i suppose. It was too early in the game to kick at goal, IMO. They should have continued to pressure out line.

Right now hes closer to the second analysis than the first, although he is getting better week on week

He is a good ball and all tackler and has an excellent passing game, therefore if he is willing to do some more graft i think his ideal position is centre to replace Bailey when he retires next season. This will allow our numbers 1-3 to play in their respective positions aswell as giving Pryce a start on the team sheet

The first thing he needs to learn to use his hands to fend better, a big lad like him should be able to palm smaller wingers like foster straight into touch

but there wasnt another 5 minutes was there, you was outclassed saints always handle the pressure and you was beaten by the better team,
why didnt wigan play like they did in the last 10 minutes the whole 80 .. please explain?

You should know about Saints handling pressure anyways