The Red Devils were rampant as they thrashed Huddersfield Giants at the Salford Community Stadium.
Coming into the contest with the opportunity to climb into fourth, Paul Rowley’s side knew they had to improve from their last outing at Magic Weekend.
Two suspensions and Sam Stone’s failed HIA forced the Head Coach into changes, with Chris Hankinson, Chris Atkin and Loghan Lewis all coming into the starting thirteen.
It was the Giants who started the game more brightly; Tui Lolohea spotted Deon Cross out of position and sent an early grubber for Aidan McGowan to chase, but the winger was just beaten to the punch by Ryan Brierley.
From then on it was pure Salford domination. On his 100th appearance for the Club, Chris Atkin got the scoring underway after some nice work by Jayden Nikorima on the right edge.
The halfback squeezed past a few players and slipped his teammate in for a try on what was a landmark afternoon for Mr Versatile.
Huddersfield’s issues got worse when Andre Savelio was sent to the sin-bin for a high tackle on Lewis, and the Reds struck off the back of that.
Marc Sneyd bagged his 20th try assist of the Betfred Super League campaign, sending an inch-perfect grubber for Brierley to ground under the posts.
A few minutes later, the same source was over again, but this time with a touch more fortune.
Trying to work it wide, Sneyd’s pass was loose and Cross was forced backwards. However, he managed to wriggle free and take advantage of Brierley, who had initially tried to latch onto Sneyd’s pass, being the spare man, to send the fullback over in the left corner.
The Reds were on fire and an 18-0 lead was two greater when Sneyd calmly slotted a penalty-goal following a Harry Rushton high tackle.
Points were flowing and Nikorima finally had his moment on 35 minutes when Ethan Ryan broke down the right. He timed his pass to perfection and sent his teammate over the try line.
He didn’t have to wait long for his second; within a matter of minutes from the restart, Nikorima beat multiple Giants’ defenders with some sublime footwork to stretch over.
Sneyd’s sixth goal of the half handed us a 32-0 half-time lead.
There was no slowing down after the break and Ryan got the try his performance merited on 43 minutes. Sneyd’s bomb caused chaos and Nene’s tip back to Kallum Watkins allowed the skipper to send Ryan acrobatically touching down in the right corner.
The atmosphere was booming and they soon had another thing to shout about.
Harvey Wilson, a young loose-forward who joined the Club midway through the season from Wigan Warriors, got the moment he must have dreamt about since a youngster.
Running a perfect line, Wilson crashed through, stepped Lolohea and had the pace to run away towards a jubilant South Stand, mobbed by his teammates.
It was a brilliant moment for the young prospect and one his all-round performance merited.
Olly Russell compounded the Giants’ misery by holding down from a Nene Macdonald break and earning himself ten minutes in the bin.
It didn’t keep the PNG international out for long and he found space on the left edge to burst through, and take his celebrations into the a crowd he’s becoming quite familiar with.
Sneyd – who had been tagging on two points for fun – was on the scoresheet himself when Brierley made a rapid break up the middle.
The fullback had four, five Salford teammates in support and chose Sneyd to finish the job underneath the sticks.
Sam Hewitt scored a consolation for the Giants following a short kick-off and a momentary lapse of concentration from the Reds’ defensive line.
Man of the Match, Brierley then capped his fine display by scoring his hat-trick. Some neat play right set Watkins through and – with a juggle – Brierley was in support to claim and dive over.
Sneyd brought up sixty points and despite a late Fenton Rogers try, the afternoon solely belonged to Rowley’s men, who bounced back from recent form in some style.
MATCH FACTS:
Salford line-up: Ryan Brierley, Ethan Ryan, Nene Macdonald, Chris Hankinson, Deon Cross, Jayden Nikorima, Marc Sneyd, Brad Singleton, Joe Mellor, Loghan Lewis, Shane Wright, Kallum Watkins, Chris Atkin.
Interchanges: Joe Shorrocks, Harvey Wilson, Amir Bourouh, Joe Bullock.
Tries: Ryan Brierley (3), Jayden Nikorima (2), Ethan Ryan, Marc Sneyd, Chris Atkin, Nene Macdonald, Harvey Wilson.
Conversions: Marc Sneyd (10/11)
Huddersfield Giants line-up: Jake Connor, Aidan McGowan, Jake Bibby, Kevin Naiqama, Sam Halsall, Tui Lolohea, Olly Russell, Andre Savelio, Ash Golding, Chris Hill, Harry Rushton, Sam Hewitt, Leroy Cudjoe.
Interchanges: Matty English, Seb Ikahihifo, Fenton Rogers, Keiran Rush.
Tries: Sam Hewitt, Fenton Rogers.
Conversions: Tui Lolohea (0/1), Olly Russell (1/1).
HT: 32-0
Photo credit: Steve McCormick
