Seventh heaven and hell

Tim Smith: inspired the Wildcats

Ben Cockayne: scored the 100th try of his career

Wakefield will take on reigning champions Leeds in the play-offs in confident mood after posting a club record seventh consecutive Super League win.

Winger Ben Cockayne scored the 100th try of his career as the in-form Wildcats put Salford to the sword.

Wakefield went into the game with their play-off spot assured after rivals Bradford went down 50-26 to Catalan Dragons in Perpignan and coach Richard Agar took the opportunity to rest second rower Ali Lauitiiti ahead of his return to Headingley after he complained of a migraine before kick-off.

Lauitiiti was hardly needed as a Tim Smith-inspired Wakefield eased to a seven-try victory that condemned the City Reds to a seventh successive defeat.

Salford had five players making their farewell appearances, although veteran Australian full-back Luke Patten was denied that opportunity after his failure to recover from a back spasm meant his outstanding career was brought to an end earlier than anticipated.

It is doubtful even Patten in his prime would have managed to contain a Wildcats side that looked to have an extra spring in their step from the start.

Scrum-half Smith, who has been hugely influential in his side's winning run, got centre Dean Collis into a gap after only four minutes but his pass was intercepted by Salford captain Stephen Wild and prop Kyle Amor was brought down inches short of the line.

It was no surprise, therefore, when the visitors opened the scoring, with Smith and Paul Sykes combining to get Lauitiiti's replacement Frankie Mariano over on 16 minutes.

Three minutes later Smith's offload got prop Andy Raleigh plunging over the line and the Australian was also involved in the move that saw full-back Richard Mathers send Collis over.

Foothold

With Sykes adding all conversions to make it 18-0 on 24 minutes, it looked grim for the City Reds but a run of three consecutive penalties enabled them to get a foothold in the game and they cut the deficit to just six points at one stage.

Right winger Danny Williams took Vinnie Anderson's pass to finish strongly at the corner and hooker Gareth Owen carved out a try for Hull KR-bound centre Sean Gleeson.

Daniel Holdsworth kicked both goals but Wakefield struck a decisive blow on the stroke of half-time when prop Paul Johnson took Smith's pass to romp through a yawning gap in the home defence.

And there was no way back for Phil Veivers' men when Smith's cut-out pass got Cockayne over for his landmark try four minutes into the second half.

Anderson and centre Ashley Gibson scored tries as Salford rallied but Wakefield maintained their dominance with winger Peter Fox and centre Lee Smith adding further tries and Sykes maintaining his 100% record with a seventh goal.

There was a final flurry for the Reds, with second rower Matty Ashurst and Gibson scoring late tries and Luke Adamson adding the final conversion to mark his farewell appearance, but the scoreline flattered the home side.

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