Wigan coach Shaun Wane was delighted to extend his own 100 per cent record in Good Friday derbies but was disappointed not to have beaten St Helens by a bigger margin.
The Warriors established a grip on the contest by half-time, when they led 16-0, but Saints restored some pride with a couple of second-half tries as they went down 24-12 in front of a full house at Langtree Park.
"It's a great feeling, I just didn't think the score reflected the game," said Wane, whose side have not lost to Saints on Good Friday since 2009.
"We got hammered with penalties, which put us under the pump and the 50-50s didn't go our way,
"But I'm very proud. It's a tough place to come. Saints are a well-coached team and they have some talent, so to get the two points means a lot to Wigan people.
"I thought we looked in control most of the time and it would have been a bigger win if we had been smarter."
Wigan had some defending to do before they managed to get on top and the breakthrough came midway through the first half when in-form winger Dom Manfredi finished off a slick handling move with the game's first try.
"He was good," Wane said. "He was good defensively, making good choices, and he was devastating on plays one and two."
Saints' brief rally produced tries for second rower Joe Greenwood and stand-off Theo Fages, on his full debut, but they finished a clear second best.
Wigan stay third, two points behind leaders Warrington, while St Helens drop to fifth after a third defeat of the season and coach Keiron Cunningham admits he has work to do.
"I thought we started phenomenally well - it was probably one of our best starts of the year - but there were a couple of opportunities we didn't take and one thing led to another," Cunningham said.
"We put ourselves in a bad spot in the last 15 minutes of the first half. We got on the back foot and couldn't get it back."
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