St Helens have qualified for every end-of-season play-offs since their introduction in 1998. That proud record was on the verge of being ended before Jonny Lomax came up with a decisive try two minutes from the end last night.
Their play-offs lifeline came as Mark Percival poked a kick to the Wakefield in-goal area that Scott Grix should have dropped on. Instead, the full back tried to hack it clear, only making it as far as the pursuing Lomax, who claimed the touch to level the score. Percival made no mistake with the conversion to put St Helens ahead for the first time.
Persistence paid off, but the visiting team had been second best for much of the evening. “Wakefield were sensational and didn’t give