Super League: St Helens beat Salford City Reds to go third in the table

Francis Meli: touched down for Saints in the second half, a score which effectively clinched the points

Ade Gardner: familiar face for St Helens opening the scoring in the first half

St Helens maintained their fine run of form with a hard-fought 14-10 success over the Salford City Reds in wintery conditions.

Saints have responded well to losing to Leeds and now have back-to-back wins at Langtree Park despite both teams scoring two tries apiece.

Tries either side of half-time from Ade Gardner and Francis Meli set Nathan Brown's men on their way, although Salford had the final say with Liam Foran and Marc Sneyd going over to set up a grandstand finish.

The victory for Brown's team mean they are now just a point behind league leaders Huddersfield, who lost at Warrington on Friday.

Brian Noble, one of the front-runners for the vacant Salford job, was a guest of the basement club with ex-Saints centre Alan Hunte currently in charge on an interim basis.

Close

Martin Gleeson almost put Salford ahead but Saints went in front with a 24th-minute Gardner try after Sol Soliola, Paul Wellens and Jordan Turner combined.

Chris Nero had a Reds effort ruled out before Lewis Charnock scored his first points for the club with a penalty just before the break.

Meli notched Saints' second try from a Josh Jones break with Salford not helped by injuries to Theo Fages, Martin Gleeson and Danny Williams.

Charnock struck his third goal with another penalty to extend the lead to 14-0 after 65 minutes.

Sneyd's kick was caught by Jordan James for Foran to make it 14-6 with 12 minutes left and then Sneyd glided over two minutes from the end to leave Saints hanging on.