Salford Red Devils showed plenty of spirit in tough conditions, but were beaten by world champions, Wigan Warriors this afternoon.
With Amir Bourouh and Cade Cust both missing through injury, Joe Shorrocks was operating at hooker, with Shane Wright replacing Jack Ormondroyd at prop.
Errors were aplenty in the first ten minutes, with Salford forced on their own try line by the strong running of Junior Nsemba and Luke Thompson.
The Warriors were first on the board when Miski created a gap in the Salford line to race clean through on fullback, Ryan Brierley.
He flicked a pass back inside to Wigan’s number three, Adam Keighran, who finished the job.
One quickly became two when another quick move from Wigan opened up Salford’s defence. Nsemba was the man who ran a hard line for the Warriors and powered through Sneyd to score the try.
Marc Sneyd was shown a green card after receiving some treatment in back play and with Salford down to 12 for two minutes, the visitors struck again.
Warriors hooker, Brad O’Neill ran strong and squeezed through the Salford defence to score, despite the best efforts of Brierley to hold him up.
A positive moment for Salford in the first-half came via Kallum Watkins, who ran a fantastic line to break through, but some expert scramble defence held the skipper up.
A second chance came when Nene Macdonald darted from dummy-half to crash through, but the video referee confirmed the on-field decision of no try.
Going into the break 18 points down, Salford needed a positive start to the second forty – and that’s just what they did.
The Salford faithful sensed an opportunity was on the horizon after Gil Dudson took a strong carry just five metres out.
Some fast reactions from Joe Mellor gave Ollie Partington the the opportunity to exploit a gap to exploit, and he sliced straight through the Wigan defence to narrow the deficit.
A period of Salford pressure followed, but a high tackle from Mellor allowed Keighran to add the two points.
Torrential conditions made the ball slippy and French took advantage of a tired Salford defence to scramble through and seal a Warriors win.
Next up for Rowley’s side are the visit of London Broncos on Sunday afternoon.
MATCH FACTS:
Salford line-up: Ryan Brierley, Ethan Ryan, Nene Macdonald, Tim Lafai, Deon Cross, Chris Atkin, Marc Sneyd, Brad Singleton, Joe Shorrocks, Shane Wright, Sam Stone, Kallum Watkins, Ollie Partington.
Interchanges: Chris Hankinson, Joe Mellor, Matty Foster, Gil Dudson.
Tries: Ollie Partington
Conversions: Marc Sneyd (1/1)
Wigan Warriors line-up: Jai Field, Abbas Miski, Adam Keighran, Jake Wardle, Liam Marshall, Bevan French, Harry Smith, Luke Thompson, Brad O’Neill, Mike Cooper, Junior Nsemba, Liam Farrell, Ethan Havard.
Interchanges: Tyler Dupree, Patrick Mago, Harvie Hill, Kruise Leeming
Tries: Abbas Miski, Junior Nsemba, Brad O’Neill, Bevan French.
Conversions: Adam Keighran (5/5)
HT: 0-18
Photo credit: Steve McCormick & James Giblin
