Rugby League: St Helens 19 - 12 Wigan

St Helens and Wigan last night laid on a tantalizing taste of a possible rematch in the first Challenge Cup final at the new Wembley Stadium with a derby that was occasionally brutal and never less than bruising or compelling, but both teams emerged with major headaches in the run-up to next weekend's trophy semi-finals.

Saints' satisfaction at maintaining their two-year domination over their local rivals with an eighth consecutive derby win that lifted them two points clear at the top of the Super League table was only soured by a disciplinary worry for their veteran hooker Keiron Cunningham, who was put on report for a challenge on Wigan's full-back Pat Richards.

Cunningham, who set up the two tries that gave Saints an early 10-0 lead, was due to make his 400th appearance for the club in next Saturday's semi-final against Bradford Bulls, but now faces an anxious 48 hours before discovering whether the game's video review panel will summon him to a disciplinary hearing.

Wigan's headache is literal in the case of their Great Britain prop Stuart Fielden, who was knocked out cold after mis- timing a tackle on his opposite number Nick Fozzard in the third minute, and had to be helped from the field.

"He'll certainly need a head test," said the Warriors coach, Brian Noble, though he expects Fielden to be cleared to face Catalans Dragons in the second semi , and was more concerned last night about the likely loss of another prop, Paul Prescott, who hobbled off with a suspected broken ankle 12 minutes after replacing Fielden.

By that stage Wigan were already trailing 10-0, so Noble was highly encouraged by their spirited response which kept the result in the balance until Sean Long marked his return from a calf injury with a drop-goal in the 77th minute.

"We didn't give ourselves the best start and we lost a couple of front-rowers in the process, so I'm really proud of the players for clawing our way back into the game," Noble said. "I thought we were good in relation to where we want to be against [St Helens]. We made it a derby, which is what we wanted to do."

Saints had brushed aside Wigan dismissively in their two previous meetings this season - 32-14 at the JJB Stadium on Good Friday and 34-18 at Cardiff in May. But after coming into this game on the back of consecutive defeats by Leeds and Bradford, their coach, Daniel Anderson, was happy to regain the winning habit and unconcerned by the narrower margin of victory.

"I thought Wigan were very courageous, but I thought we were the better team," he said, reserving particular praise for the front row of Fozzard, Cunningham and Jason Cayless, with James Graham also making a major impact from the interchange bench. He expressed his hope that Cunningham, who has an excellent disciplinary record, will avoid suspension. "It was an aggressive game so there are going to be plenty of incidents, but I didn't see anything malicious," Anderson added.

Cunningham had underlined his enduring value by setting up the game's first try for Cayless with a perfect floated pass as Wigan were still struggling to re-adjust following the loss of Fielden, and in the 12th minute he also provided the final pass for Francis Meli to score Saints' second after supporting an electric break by James Roby.

At that stage you would have got long odds against Wigan consolidating for 25 minutes before pinching a try on the stroke of half-time to cut the deficit to 10-6, even if they did it after a highly controversial decision by the video referee, Ian Smith, who ruled that Richards had grounded Trent Barrett's clever reverse kick despite the suspicion of a tiny knock-on.

Wigan were denied the lead, and Richards a second try, by Paul Wellens's strong cover tackle early in the second half. Instead Saints finally regained the momentum of the game's early exchanges, with their new Australian signing Chris Flannery forcing an error from the Wigan captain, Sean O'Loughlin, and Leon Pryce pouncing on the loose ball for an opportunist try. Wigan did reply through Darrell Goulding following another teasing kick by Barrett, but three goals from Long did the rest.

St Helens Wellens; Gardner, Gidley, Talau, Meli; Pryce, Roby; Fozzard, Cunningham, Cayless, Bennett, Clough, Hargreaves. Interchange Long, Graham, Fa'asavalu, Flannery.

Wigan Warriors Richards; Calderwood, Bailey, Vaealiki, Colbon; Barrett, Leuluai; Fielden, Higham, Paleaaesina, Hock, Fletcher, O'Loughlin.

Interchange Prescott, Hansen, Goulding, McIlorum.

Referee A Klein (Silsden).