Wigan 16-31 Salford: Red Devils end long wait for win at Wigan
By PA Sport
Last Updated: 06/05/17 1:32am
Salford recorded their first win at Wigan in 20 years, and their maiden triumph at the DW Stadium, with a convincing 31-16 victory in Betfred Super League on Friday.
The Red Devils dominated the opening half and were unlucky not to be more than 16-0 in front against their injury-ravaged opponents.
Tries from Kris Welham, Niall Evalds and Ben Murdoch-Masila put Salford in full control, while Liam Farrell wasted Wigan's only real chance of the opening period as he dropped the ball with the line at his mercy.
Salford looked like cruising to victory with two quick-fire second-half tries from Evalds and Greg Johnson, although Wigan scores from Tom Davies, Ryan Sutton and Lewis Tierney made the score respectable.
Wigan were missing 14 first team players and handed a club debut to Josh Woods at stand-off, while Josh Ganson was named at hooker for only his second game after coming off the bench against Castleford last weekend.
The Red Devils were also missing some personnel, with Justin Carney serving an eight-game suspension after being found guilty of racial abusing an opponent. Mark Flanagan joined Todd Carney, Weller Hauraki and Lee Mossop on the sidelines.
Welham went in at the corner to open the scoring as Salford enjoyed plenty of success down Wigan's left-hand side.
An error from the Red Devils in their own half saw Wigan have some decent field position but they were unable to capitalise as Farrell knocked on chasing Powell's grubber kick with the line at his mercy.
Salford continued to look dangerous with ball in hand and full-back Evalds did a nice show and go to cross following some good build-up play involving Rob Lui, Dobson and Murdoch-Masila.
An error from Tierney saw the Warriors drop out from under their own posts and Dobson and Lui combined to send a rampaging Murdoch-Masila through to score.
Wigan needed to score first in the second half but Dobson put in an inch perfect kick and Evalds timed his run to perfection to touch down in front of the travelling support.
The champions looked shell-shocked and Salford started to run riot, with Johnson collecting a long ball to score in the corner.
Ganson went close to going over but he was held inches short but Wigan eventually got on the score sheet in the 54th minute when Tom Davies did well to get the ball down in the corner following good work from Forsyth.
A mistake from Jake Bibby 10 metres from his own line gave Ryan Sutton the chance to barge over from close range.
Sutton was held up over the line as Wigan piled on the pressure following back-to-back penalties and they reduced the deficit to just 12 points with eight to go as Tierney went over after Isa's kick had rebounded back to him.
A knock-on from Frank-Paul Nuuausala ended any hopes of a Wigan comeback and they then conceded a penalty as O'Brien was taken out as he dropped a goal, the one-pointer counted and the former Warrington man also slotted over the penalty to seal the win.
