Giants go so close!

Mar 8 2003 By Chris Roberts, The Huddersfield Daily Examiner

At 13-4 at the break Huddersfield were in with a shout - until two fairly fortuitous tries within seven minutes of the restart from David Hodgson and Jamie Ainscough appeared to have taken the Warriors out of sight.

It was then, however, that the Giants spirit began to shine through.

In the 56th-minute Turner darted over from acting half-back in typical fashion and then Colella repeated the act, with Costin's conversions making it 23-16 by the 59th minute.

Sculthorpe's try seven minutes later looked to have steadied Wigan's ship.

But when Jim Gannon burst onto Costin's short pass to score between the posts in the 71st minute and Steve McNamara landed the conversion, it really was game on!

Whether another Huddersfield try at that stage would have led to victory will never be known, but this display still rates as one of the Giants' finest.

MATCH FACTS

Huddersfield Giants: St Hilaire, O'Hare, Cooper, Bailey, Wilkinson, McNamara, Costin, Slicker, Turner, Gannon, Calland, Colella, O'Doherty, March, Whitaker, Crabtree, Grayshon

Wigan Warriors: Radlinski; Carney, Hodgson, Ainscough, Dallas; O'Neill, Lam; Smith (C), Newton, Sculthorpe, Tickle, Wild, O'Loughlin. Subs (all used): Smith (M), Ricky Bibey, Hock, Aspinwall.

KEY MAN

HOOKER Darren Turner was an inspiration to his teammates, leading the way in the defensive duties and driving the ball into the heart of Wigan time and again.

KEY MOMENT

WIGAN's two tries at the start of the second half made it 23-4 and gave the Giants too big a mountain to climb

KEY STATS

Wigan. Tries: O'Loughlin (14mins), Dallas (30mins), Hodgson (41mins), Ainscough (47mins), Sculthorpe (66mins), Aspinwall (79mins). Goals: O'Neill 4 from 6, Tickle 0 from 1. Drop goal: Lam.

Huddersfield. Tries: Wilkinson (35mins), Turner (56mins), Colella (59mins), Gannon (71mins). Goals: McNamara 1 from 2, Costin 2 from 2.

Half-time: 13-4.

Referee: Karl Kirkpatrick (Warrington).

Attendance: 8,187.

Scrums won: Wigan 7, Huddersfield 8.

Penalties conceded: Wigan 6, Huddersfield 7.