Warrington 40-14 Salford: Wolves send Red Devils into Middle 8s
By PA Sport
Last Updated: 08/07/16 9:07am
Salford ended a depressing day with a 40-14 defeat at Warrington that condemned them to a second successive battle against relegation.
Hours after learning that their six-points deduction for a salary-cap breach had been upheld, the Red Devils suffered a seven-try rout which ensured a place in the Qualifiers when Super League makes the split later this month.
Centre Ryan Atkins and loose forward Joe Westerman both scored two tries apiece and rookie stand-off Dec Patton contributed 14 points as Warrington moved to within a point of joint leaders Hull FC and Wigan.
Salford actually made the better start and went in front with an eighth-minute try from centre Junior Sa'u, who beat Warrington full-back Stefan Ratchford to Robert Lui's grubber kick on the last tackle.
Gareth O'Brien, back on his old stomping ground at the Halliwell Jones Stadium, missed the conversion and was also wide with a penalty as the visitors failed to turn their early domination into a bigger lead.
The Wolves were hampered by handling errors from unlikely sources, with Chris Hill and Ben Currie providing Salford with early gifts, but they gradually got their game together by half-time when they had turned the game around to lead 18-4.
The hard-working Westerman bumped off Lui's attempted tackle to go over midway through the first half and, after Lui had gone close at the other end, Atkins struck twice in quick succession just before the break.
The former Wakefield man demonstrated raw power to go over for his first try and a delightful combination of swerve and sidestep for his second and Patton, deputising once more for the injured Kurt Gidley, converted both from wide out, having taken over the goalkicking duties after Ratchford had landed the first.
Warrington had a glorious chance to extend their lead within a minute of the restart after Salford lost the ball on their own 20-metre line but winger Tom Lineham spilled Rhys Evans' pass with the line open.
However, Lineham made amends shortly afterwards with a sliding finish after the home side had engineered an overlap to make it 22-4.
Centre Josh Griffin gave the Red Devils renewed hope when he charged over for his side's second try and the gap would have been reduced further had former Warrington reserve hooker Sean Kenny been able to finish off a break by Sa'u, but he lost the ball in Brad Dwyer's tackle over the line.
It proved to be Salford's last hope as Wolves scrum-half Chris Sandow began to turn the screw, pinning the visitors back with a 40-20 before increasing the pressure by forcing a goal-line drop-out.
That pressure paid off when Westerman sidestepped his way over for his second try on 59 minutes and three minutes later Patton pounced for Warrington's sixth try after the ball had been pulled out of Westerman's grasp during his lunge for the line for what would have been his hat-trick.
As Salford wilted, Sandow produced a second 40-20 and crafted a try for winger Matty Russell with a pinpoint kick to the corner and Patton kicked his fifth goal from five attempts before Lui grabbed a consolation try 10 minutes from the end.
