The Red Devils last visit to the DW Stadium yielded Salford’s first victory at Wigan in 20 years as Ian Watson’s men came away with a memorable 16-31 victory.
But, Salford have had a torrid time of it at Wigan in previous seasons. The Red Devils last victory, before this season’s triumph, came back in 1997 with a 14-21 victory with four Steve Blakeley goals and a Mark Lee drop-goal being the difference.
It isn’t just on the road against the Warriors where the Red Devils have struggled but with just 2 victories in their last 22 meetings with Wigan it’s fair to say Wigan are Salford’s bogey side. Unfortunately, Salford endured a 17-game losing streak against Wigan between 2006 and 2014.
Narrow defeats to the Warriors in 2016 and 2015 were an improvement on the Red Devils visits to the DW Stadium in earlier seasons. Salford conceded 38 points or more in five consecutive visits to the DW.
The Red Devils do have several former Warriors in the side with Lee Mossop, Mark Flanagan and Logan Tomkins all having donned the Cherry and White of Wigan at some point.
Flanagan featured for the Warriors in 2009 before moving to NRL side Wests Tigers while Mossop and Tomkins had longer spells with Wigan. Tomkins spent four years with the Warriors with one being spent on loan with the Red Devils before the move was made permanent in 2016 while his brothers Sam and Joel still represent Wigan however only Sam is in this weekend’s matchday squad.
Mossop also joined Salford from Wigan however his move came at the start of this season. The former England international won both the Challenge Cup and Super League with the Warriors throughout two spells with the club spanning seven seasons which were split by a year in Australia with the Parramatta Eels.
Wigan and Salford have met on three occasion this season with Wigan winning twice and the Red Devils earning one victory. Both sides picked up wins on the oppositions patch before Wigan knocked off the Red Devils at the Halliwell Jones Stadium in last month’s Ladbrokes Challenge Cup semi-final.
Greg Johnson has scored in two of the three meetings this season for Ian Watson’s side while Niall Evalds grabbed a brace in the visit to the DW earlier in the season. However, it is Oliver Gildart who has dominated this fixture in 2017 scoring four tries against the Red Devils this season.
Fans can still purchase tickets for Friday night’s game against Wigan at the DW Stadium. Supporters are also reminded that they can now buy tickets for all of the Red Devils home Super 8s games against Wakefield, Huddersfield and St Helens. Season tickets are valid for all Super 8s home games.
