Salford found their rhythm as they dismantled Widnes 36-8 at the AJ Bell
Last Updated: 26/03/15 11:29pm
Salford thrashed Widnes 36-8 at the AJ Bell Stadium on Thursday night to move up to fourth in the Super League table.
First-half tries from Ben Jones-Bishop, Weller Hauraki, and Greg Johnson gave Salford a 16-8 lead at half-time, but after the break is when they really tore into the visitors as Lama Tasi, Josh Griffin, Cory Paterson and Scott Taylor all dotted down in an impressive display from the home side.
It was Salford who arrived with the early desire and it was not long before they were on the scoreboard thanks to a try from Ben Jones-Bishop. A clever kick bounced favourably for Jones-Bishop and all he had to do was dot down as a defender tried but failed to turn back for the ball.
Widnes attempted to get back into the game, but each time with ball in hand they achieved very little, while Salford were roaming free at the AJ Bell. Another kick through from Salford in the Widnes half was badly dealt with by the defence and this time it was Weller Hauraki who plucked the ball from the visiting players and spun his way over the line for his side's second score of the game.
As the half-hour mark hit, there was a big break from Liam Hood, who offloaded to Michael Dobson who made it all the way to a metre short of the Widnes line before he was brought down by Stefan Marsh. It was a fantastic effort from the Vikings defender, but he was penalised for a professional foul on the back of it and was given a yellow card.
Salford took the ball quickly, Rangi Chase shifted the ball wide to Greg Johnson who hugged the right-hand touchline to score his team's third try of the game.
Widnes hit back almost immediately with a try of their own from Paddy Flynn when two dummy runners from deep kept the defender's guessing and the ball was shifted to Flynn who ran the ball in for his side's first try of the night. When Widnes were handed a penalty on the stroke of half-time Jack Owens stepped up to add a penalty to go with his conversion from earlier, for a 16-8 lead to Salford at the break.
If Salford were unable to clinically hold out defensively in the first half, they were cured of it in the second as Lama Tasi, Josh Griffin, Cory Paterson and Scott Taylor all dotted down for the home side, but more importantly for the coaching staff, Salford did not allow their opponents to score any second-half points.
Epitomising the Red Devils’ defensive attitude, a kick was collected by Rhys Hanbury on his own line with four minutes remaining. Hanbury managed to get all the way to the half-way line before he was brought down by five swarming defenders as Salford refused to concede.
The score remained at 36-8 for the minutes that followed and Salford held out for an important win at home, which has elevated them to fourth place on the table.
