Salford beat Wakefield 24-16 to deny Brian Smith a victory in his first game in charge
Last Updated: 14/06/15 6:49pm
Salford captain Harrison Hansen scored his first tries of the season to help his side to their first win since Easter Monday and deny Brian Smith a victory in his first game in charge of Wakefield.
Hansen had gone 17 matches without scoring but touched down in each half to help secure a 24-16 triumph in a dour basement clash at Belle Vue that enabled the Red Devils to bring their eight-match losing run to an end.
It was a far from an impressive display from Iestyn Harris' side but it was good enough to condemn the Wildcats to a 15th successive defeat and they are now nine points adrift at the foot of the Super League table.
Smith was forced to field a team lacking six regulars through injury, in addition to departed overseas duo Dean Collis and Lopini Paea, but had the encouragement of seeing former Leeds forward Ian Kirke make his mark with a third try in only his third appearance for the club.
The return from suspension of Salford's goalkicking centre Josh Griffin meant the brothers were united for only the second time against their old club but hooker Liam Hood became one of six injury absentees when he pulled out just
before kick-off.
The omens were not good and the clash proved to a forgettable one, with even Rangi Chase unable to stamp his class on proceedings.
Wakefield demonstrated their generosity on eight minutes when centre Matt Ryan dropped the ball 20 metres out from the Salford line and full-back Niall Evalds went 60 metres to set up the position for winger Greg Johnson to get scrum-half Theo Fages over for the game's first try.
A 40-20 kick from Chase enabled the Red Devils to keep the pressure on and it paid off when prop Scott Taylor proved unstoppable from 10 metres out after Logan Tomkins had been held just short of the line.
Wakefield pulled a try back on 18 minutes when loose forward Daniel Smith, one of the home side's best players, took a pass from his namesake scrum-half Tim to crash over and Joe Arundel added the conversion to make it 12-6.
However, Wakefield generally had little to offer on attack and they fell further behind on 23 minutes when back rower Cory Paterson charged down Smith's kick and Hansen followed up to score his first try.
Josh Griffin kicked his third goal to make it 18-6 but the Wildcats were back in it within three minutes of the restart when substitute Kirke took Pita Godinet's pass to power his way over for a second try.
Salford's indiscipline continued to let them down but the Wildcats were not capable of taking advantage.
Winger Chris Riley got over at the corner but referee Robert Hicks disallowed the try and the visitors immediately worked their way to the other end of the field where Hansen charged over for his second try.
Griffin kicked his fourth goal to stretch his side's lead to 24-10 but Wakefield skipper Danny Kirmond gave the hosts renewed hope on the hour when he stretched out of a tackle to plant the ball on the line for their third try.
Arundel kicked a second goal to cut the deficit to eight points but the game petered to a close without any scoring in the final quarter.
