Warrington 32 Salford 18 Match report
The Easter festival of Rugby League got under way on Thursday night with a number of fixtures in the Super League. Salford made the short trip down the A57 or M62 to Warrington. The Wolves had lost five games on the trot and were desperately seeking a performance. On the other hand Salford were struggling to string a decent eighty minutes together. The Red Devils had showed patches of good spells in recent weeks but were on a slight decline with some very testing matches coming up over the next month.
Salford made a bright start to the match as they were cheered on by a good vocal away following behind the posts. It was a defensive clock off that let the Wolves in for the opening points. Toby King ran at a huge gap to coast in for an easy try.
The hosts cranked the pressure up pummelling the Salford line with a real ferociousness. The Red Devils dug deep and scrambled well to hold out.
Just before the half way mark of the first half King struck again. A high kick caught Ken Sio and Ryan Brierley out, the ball bounced and King took the gift four points on offer. Stefan Ratchford doubled the lead with his second conversion 12-0.
Warrington threatened again but it was a super cover tackle from Joe Burgess that stopped a certain try. In the aftermath Brierley was sin binned and yet again Salford were being hammered by penalties and set restarts.
The Wolves made the extra man count with a nice crisp move. Quick hands and the ball went to their left with Matty Ashton touching down.
Burgess was then hit very late after taking a high kick. It looked a certain yellow card but referee Jack Smith kept his cards in his pocket.
On his return the hard working Brierley measured a lovely kick for Sio who got Salford on the scoreboard just as the hooter sounded for half time.
Marc Sneyd thumped the conversion in off the post, 16-6 at the break.
Warrington started the second half with a quick tempo. Keeping the ball alive and toying with the jaded Devils. Joe Philbin went over to extend the home sides advantage. At 22-6 Salford looked down and out but when Andy Ackers sneaked over from dummy half it was just the boost they needed.
Trailing 22-12 Salford had real momentum forcing drop outs pegging Warrington on the back foot. The Wolves were rocking and defended desperately to their credit they held out and Salford’s last tackle options were a little predictable at times. You couldn’t fault the effort though.
It was a real sucker punch that flattened Salford’s resilience. Warrington have got plenty of pace in their line up and they marched down the field. A flying finish from Ashton in the corner put the game beyond the Devils at 26-12.
King scored his hat trick try off a nice reverse pass with just seven minutes remaining.
Gareth Widdop was sent to the sin bin with just nine seconds remaining in what seemed a pointless decision by the referee. To their credit Salford kept plugging away and as the hooter sounded Brierley chased a real lost cause to grab a deserved try.
Another disappointing night for the Red Devils who are back in action at home to Catalans on Easter monday. The Dragons beat Toulouse last night in a fiery clash 18-10.
Warrington 32 Salford 18.
Paul Whiteside.
Big thanks to Steve McCormick for the photos.
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