Round 4
St Helens 22 d. Wakefield Trinity Wildcats 16

2010 engage English Super League Index [Table] [Draw] [Player Stats] [Club Headlines]

Location: United Kingdom > National > First Grade Competition: engage English Super League

Cunningham celebrates 500th match in style
Sat February 27, 2010
Source: www.superleague.co.uk

Veteran hooker Keiron Cunningham celebrated his 500th match with a trademark try to help lift St Helens to third place in Engage Super League with a third successive victory.

The 33-year-old Cunningham, whose landmark appearance was delayed by three weeks following the sudden death of his mother Annie, entered the field with his side trailing 12-0 but his 60th-minute score put them in front for the first time and changed the momentum of the match.

Wakefield Trinity Wildcats were on course to repeat last year's victory at Knowsley Road when they hit their hosts with two tries in three minutes early in the game but Saints found their rhythm to condemn them to their first defeat of the season.

Wakefield spent the early early part of the game under self-imposed pressure with Sam Obst, Glenn Morrison and Jason Demetriou all coming up with handling errors in the first 10 minutes, but when they eventually managed to string their passes together, they struck with devastating effect.

Danny Brough shaped to kick on the last tackle but instead sent out a long pass which Morrison palmed onto Sean Gleeson, who ran into space before combining with Tevita Leo-Latu to get winger Dale Morton over at the corner.

Brough added the touchline conversion and the Wildcats quickly extended their lead when winger Aaron Murphy got his foot to the ball following Obst's chip over the Saints defence and centre Darryl Millard won the race to the line.

Brough's second goal made it 12-0 and it could have been worse for the home side with Morrison just inches away from touching down a splendidly-judged kick from the scrum half.

Saints finally got on the scoreboard on 27 minutes when stand-off Leon Pryce showed his strength with a half-break and winger Jonny Lomax took his long pass to cross at the corner.

Kyle Eastmond's conversion crept over the crossbar to cut the deficit to six points.

St Helens enjoyed all the play at the start of the second half and Brough managed to relieve the pressure by intercepting Scott Moore's pass.

But the pressure told thanks to a touch of magic from England half-back Eastmond, who opened up the Wakefield defence with a hand-off and outpaced the cover in a sprint to the corner.

Eastmond failed with the goalkick but Saints took the lead for the first time on 49 minutes when Cunningham forced his way over for a trademark try from dummy half.

It was the veteran hooker's 169th try for Saints on his 470th appearance and underlined his continuing importance to the club.

With Pryce beginning to exert his influence on the side, St Helens got on top and Wakefield's problems worsened when Brough was forced off with a cut head.

It was no surprise when Saints extended their lead on 57 minutes when left winger Francis Meli took a long pass from Paul Wellens to grab a fourth try and Eastmond's third goal made it 22-12.

Wakefield hit back when winger Aaron Murphy palmed Ben Jeffries' kick into the grateful arms of Millard to enable the Australian centre to score his second try and cut the gap to just six points.

Cunningham went close to grabbing a second try but it was Wakefield who dominated the closing stages and Saints were forced to defend heroically to retain their lead.

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