Saints sew up third place
St Helens scored 18 points without reply in the second half to see off a stubborn Salford 31-6 at the Stobart Stadium.
Last Updated: 02/09/11 11:09pm
St Helens battled their way to a 31-6 victory over Salford at the Stobart Stadium to secure a third-place finish in Super League.
Royce Simmons' side are now certain to travel to either Warrington or Wigan in the first round of the play-offs, after running in five tries against the Reds.
However they did not have things all their own way, with the visitors only trailing 13-6 at the end of a first half that saw both teams have a player sin-binned.
Saints captain James Graham saw yellow for showing his frustration and soon after Ray Cashmere followed him off the field for a high tackle. It proved to be a costly card for Salford, though, as they leaked two tries whilst down to 12 men to surrender an early lead.
Deserved lead
They had gone ahead after four minutes when Danny Williams grabbed his sixth try in his last three matches, with Daniel Holdsworth converting.
Matt Parish's troops were good value for their 6-0 advantage too, and they would have been further in front had full-back Luke Patten managed to touch down Holdsworth's grubber kick just before it went dead.
Saints looked out of sorts at that stage and the volatile Graham vented his anger after 15 minutes by kicking the ball into the stand after having a try disallowed by referee Phil Bentham.
The England prop was sent to the sin bin for his show of petulance but the numbers were evened up within a minute when prop Cashmere was penalised for a high shot on St Helens hooker James Roby.
Saints finally clicked into gear with two tries in the space of seven minutes, second-rower Sia Soliola crashing through to reach the line before winger Tom Makinson squeezed over at the corner.
Jamie Foster added both conversions and, after Roby had a try disallowed for obstruction, Jonny Lomax increased his side's lead to 13-6 with a 40-metre drop goal on the stroke of half-time.
Comfortable
The second half, however, proved to be much more comfortable for the hosts.
Francis Meli forced his way over for a third try nine minutes into the second half, his effort coming after a superb crossfield kick from Michael Shenton.
Lomax then sent substitute Matty Ashurst striding through a gap in a tiring Salford defence on 54 minutes to put the game beyond their opponents.
Stand-off Lee Gaskell piled on the agony for the Reds when he gathered a chip kick from Matty Smith, playing against his former employers, and raced 70 metres to the other end of the field for an opportunist try.
Foster maintained his unerring accuracy with a fifth goal from as many attempts, giving the final scoreline a slightly flattering look in Saints' favour.
