Salford Red Devils fell to defeat against Warrington despite a resilient performance which saw them cause the hosts problems and go into the final thirty minutes on par with the Wolves.
Jack Littlejohn crossed for a first half double but tries from Sitaleki Akauola, Tom Lineham and Toby King saw Warrington go into the break ahead by four points. Red Devils forward Ryan Lannon spent ten minutes in the sin bin for a professional foul before the interval.
Jake Bibby’s early second half score edged Salford in front however three unanswered tries from Josh Charnley, Daryl Clark and Mike Cooper pulled the game away from Ian Watson’s men.
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Salford started strongly but fell behind after eight minutes as Tyrone Roberts stepped through the line and found Akauola who finished under the posts. However, the Red Devils soon found themselves level when Jack Littlejohn capitalised on some slick hands out wide to force his way over from close-range. Rob Lui converted to level the scores.
Warrington regained their lead in just a matter of minutes when Lineham scooped up a loose pass and managed to race to the corner despite pressure from Lui. Goodwin missed the conversion attempt. Midway through the half Wire extended their lead further as Toby King latched onto Roberts’ low kick.
As the Wolves built momentum they almost crossed again through Charnley but a wonderful tackle from Lannon prevented the winger. However, Lannon would be sent to the sin-bin for holding Charnley down for too long yards from the Salford try-line.
While this could have seen Warrington kick on it instead invigorated the Red Devils as Littlejohn went over for his second try. Lui managed to pull off a late pass to George Griffin who flicked the ball out of the backdoor in turn to Littlejohn who doubled his account for the evening.
And, it was Salford who started the second half stronger and pulled themselves level thanks to Jake Bibby. The Red Devils played some expansive rugby to break down field before Bibby picked up a low pass and raced thirty metres to score.
Again, Watson’s side weren’t level for long as Charnley pulled off a spectacular finish in the corner despite the best efforts of Derrell Olpherts. A back-and-forth twenty-minute spell ensued with the Red Devils going close on a number of occasions but failing to cross.
Warrington – with ten minutes remaining – mounted some sustained pressure on the Salford line and Daryl Clark jinked his way over. Mike Cooper finished the scoring in the closing stages to help Warrington pull away.
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Salford Lineup: Littlejohn; Olpherts, Sa’u, Welham, Bibby; Lui, Shorrocks; Tasi, Wood, Mossop, Griffin, Lannon, Burke.
Interchanges: Tomkins, Nakubuwai, Murray, Flanagan.
Warrington Lineup: M.Brown; Lineham, Goodwin, T. King, Charnley; K. Brown, Roberts; Akauoloa, Clark, Cooper, Pomeroy, Hughes, Westwood.
Interchanges: Philbin, G. King, Patton, Crosby.
Salford scorers: Littlejohn (12, 35’). Bibby (46’) | Goals: Lui (13’)
Warrington scorers: Akauola (8’), Lineham (16’), T.King (24’), Charnley (52), Clark (70’), Cooper (79’) | Goals: Goodwin (9’, 53’, 71’)
Salford sin-bin: Lannon – professional foul (27’)
Man of the Match: Jack Littlejohn.
Referee: Chris Kendall. Touch Judges: G. Jones & P. Brooke.
Attendance: 9171.
