Wigan Warriors 6 Warrington Wolves 10: Magic Weekend loss for Adrian Lam's side

These two rivals served up a tense derby played out at a frantic pace at the Magic Weekend in Newcastle.

There was no shortage of character from Adrian Lam's outfit but, once again, it was an attacking performance of frustration.

Prop Ethan Havard scored their only try as they trailed 10-6 at the break, and both sides failed to add to their tally after the break.

Wigan remain fourth with two games to go before the play-offs. And while this was not alarm bells it was another contest in which they failed to beat one of the top-three teams. Indeed, this was a hat-trick of wins for the Wolves against Wigan this year.

This was the closest they had pushed them, they were spirited and resilient in defence - Warrington's two tries were both from rare lapses - but their attack once again disappointed.

Too often they played it safe, and far too often their execution wasn't polished enough, and it was an issue Lam will look to improve before the play-offs. They know, now, they can't overhaul Wolves which means the highest they can finish is 4th - which will at least give them a home play-off match in the opening round.

Hooker Sam Powell returned from the bench, and though Lam had named an unchanged starting line-up the side which won 22-0 at Castleford on Monday, he was forced into a reshuffle when Oliver Gildart suffered an injury in warm-up.

Prop Joe Bullock came into the squad, with Kai Pearce-Paul promoted to the second-row and Liam Farrell switching to the centre.

Wire's side, predictably, featured Williams alongside ex-Warriors Jack Hughes and Josh Charnley.

Wolves coach Steve Price predicted brutal exchanges from the start; he could not have envisaged a better start.

Gareth Widdop's high kick was allowed to bounce by Sam Halsall and the bounce was kind to the alert Josh Thewlis, who swept over for an unconverted try.

From that point, the exchanges were fast and end-to-end until the midway point when the Wolves slowly began to take control. And their dominance, helped by quickfire penalties, led to Widdop piercing the line to go close. From that platform, Williams slipped out of Harry Smith's clutches for a 27th-minute try - which he celebrated with cheeky 'hand to his ear' celebration, having been booed by the Warriors faithful.

Stefan Ratchford's goal made it 10-0.

Wigan's approach work was solid enough, with a few more offloads than usual, but once again their execution close to Warrington's line was poor.

Yet just on the stroke of half-time, their persistence was rewarded when Ethan Havard raced onto Powell's pass to punch through, and Smith's goal reeled in the margin to just four points.

The third quarter was fiercely-contested without any side chancing their arm. After Halsall went close in the corner, captain Hughes crossed the line at the other end only to be held up by Hardaker's desperate defence.

Wigan: Hardaker; Halsall, Bibby, Farrell, Marshall; Smith, Hastings; Singleton, Shorrocks, Partington, Bateman, Pearce-Paul, Smithies. Subs: Byrne, Havard, Bullock, Powell.

Warrington: Ratchford; Thewlis, Mamo, King, Charnley; Widdop, Williams; Hill, Walker, Cooper, Hughes, Currie, Philbin. Subs: Clark, Longstaff, Mulhern, Akauola.