Warrington Wolves 12 Wakefield Trinity 16: Praise from Willie Poching after sixth-round Challenge Cup win

Trinity fought back through tries from Lewis Murphy, Reece Lyne and Corey Hall, with Mason Lino kicking two goals.

Poching said: “The heart and character the guys showed got us home in the end.

“They showed some spirit to stick in the game and I felt we were a fair way off the pace at half-time as, while we had a fair bit of ball, we weren’t defending good enough.

“We took some confidence from being only 12-6 down on the scoreboard and we needed to adjust our attitude and efforts and, thankfully, we did that.

“With the scoreboard being tight right until the end, we had to fight and claw back the lead and hold on to it and I’m really proud of them for doing that.

“We came up with some smart football to close the game out as well.

“It has not been the case all year, where we have not got the rewards for our efforts, but, if you stick in the fight long enough and keep going and trust the processes and believe in each other, you get the rewards

“We had a similar start to last weekend and any team with pace like Warrington can hurt you.

“We will have a good look at it and see what we are doing wrong, because it’s tough enough when it happens once, but two weeks in a row is, not quite alarm bells, but it’s an area we need to fix up.”

Wakefield’s reward for the success was a home last-eight tie against Wigan, but Poching’s focus is on next week’s clash with Salford.

Poching added: “Momentum can stop just like that and we are conscious of that, but our focus is Salford next week and we will do our due diligence and prepare as best we can for that game.

“Then we will move on to Wigan at home, which is a big one, so, hopefully, we can do the right job next week and we can look at what Wigan bring after that.”

Warrington coach Daryl Powell, meanwhile, demanded his players “sort their heads out” after they suffered the 16-12 defeat at the Halliwell Jones stadium.

The loss was Warrington’s fourth in succession and followed a 38-22 Super League defeat by the same opponents a week earlier.

The Wolves raced into an early 12-0 lead thanks to tries from Connor Wrench and Josh Thewlis and two Gareth Widdop conversions, but Trinity roared back to set up their quarter-final tie against Wigan. Powell, who attended the post-match press conference well over an hour after the final whistle, said: “We were ok for 20 minutes, which is a common theme, and then we get put under pressure and we can’t handle it.

“We’ve had a good chat after the game about player accountability and about what we are delivering and the players have to sort their heads out.

“Our defence is incredibly soft and we get rattled so easily. I don’t think at any point this season we have handled being put under pressure. We had a great start again today and the players have got to get a grip of their heads. I feel like I am butting heads with some of them about the way we want to play. We are not delivering on both sides of the ball and we have to get a grip of it.

“It’s still early enough in the season to fix it up, so we have had an honest chat that what we are serving up is not good enough and we have to do something about it.

“We have to become a team which we are not at the moment, because a team becomes strong when under pressure and we don’t.

“We’ve lost four games straight and we have to become stronger because of the adversity we are facing.

“We have no players playing consistently well and the players know that and we have to turn it round quickly.

“We are all accountable for the performances, which aren’t good enough, and we have to sort it out as a group. There’s no excuses for not performing well; it’s what we get paid for.”

Warrington: Thewlis, Charnley, Mata’utia, King, Wrench, Widdop, Williams, Mulhern, Walker, Cooper, Currie, Robson, Holmes. Subs: Philbin, Clark, Magoulias, Davis.

Wakefield: Jowitt, Kay, Lyne, Hall, Murphy, Miller, Lino, Arona, Hood, Tanginoa, Ashurst, Pitts, Crowther. Subs: Battye, Batchelor, Whitbread, Aydin.