Two second-half tries from full-back Richie Mathers finished off a comfortable evening's work for Warrington as they condemned the Celtic Crusaders to yet another engage Super League defeat.

Warrington were able to climb above Wigan into seventh place with the victory and have given their play-off hopes further momentum after successive triumphs at the Halliwell Jones Stadium over Hull last week and, before that, a win in France over Catalans Dragons.

But, for the Crusaders, it is a case of failing to make any ground on Salford above them as they stay eight points adrift.

And it did not help the Welsh club either that talk has spread that they are in financial trouble to an extent that chairman Leighton Samuel had to issue a statement before the match committing his future to the Crusaders.

If that was intended to boost morale, it worked for the Welshmen to an extent as they kept Warrington out of the scoring zone and limited them to a 6-0 lead at half-time.

The Wolves went into the dressing rooms at the break with a try from hooker Jon Clarke, converted by wing Chris Hicks, under their belts.

That try came on the sixth tackle when a cross-field kick was allowed to bounce wildly as two Crusaders defenders stood and watched. Clarke was alive to the opening and grabbed the loose ball to run in unopposed from five yards.

In previous games, this would have started a Celtic collapse but their defence got its act together and Warrington could hardly find a route through.

Indeed, home centre Steve Tyrer almost got an equalising try only for it to be ruled out when he was unable to ground the ball properly.

And second rower Louis Anderson nearly increased the Warrington lead when he also went over the line for a seemingly good try only for it to be called back for a forward pass.

The gap between the two sides, though, grew when loose forward Ben Harrison went over after some great work by Mathers who gave the pass for the second Warrington try of the night.

And, either side of the hour mark, Mathers grabbed two tries himself to put the game to bed with 16 minutes of the match still left.

The Crusaders lacked pace and power to cause Warrington many problems but they managed a consolation try in the last few minutes when wing Luke Dyer seized a cross-field kick by captain Jace van Dijk for Australian stand-off Mark Lennon to convert.

But it was too little, too late for the Welshman as the Wolves marched on.