The Salford Red Devils suffered a disappointing defeat against an impressive Warrington side at the Halliwell Jones Stadium on Thursday night.
The Devils came into the game on the back of a win against Castleford the week before, with Warrington looking to get back to winning ways following a draw against Hull KR.
The Red Devils started the game brightly, putting the hosts under pressure early on and taking the lead on ten minutes, when Junior Sa’u managed to get his finger tips to the ball following a Rob Lui grubber kick.
The game developed into an even affair, with both teams looking to achieve dominance in the middle of the field.
Warrington levelled the scores on 22 minutes when Joe Westerman went over for the Wolves, with Stefan Ratchford converting to bring the hosts to a 4-6 lead.
Salford came straight back at the Wolves, getting some good field possession, and testing the Warrington defence. Warrington held firm though and extended their lead with five minutes left in the half, Ryan Atkins finishing in the corner.
Warrington would cross again before half time. Atkins scoring his second of the match, with Declan Patton converting from the corner again to give the Wire a 4-18 lead at half time, despite some good play from the Red Devils.
Warrington started the second half in similar fashion to way in which they finished the first, Tom Lineham going over in the corner to extend their lead further.
Salford came back at the hosts ten minutes into the half, when Josh Griffin burst through the Warrington defence to score in the corner, and bring the score to 8-22.
The Red Devils came close to getting another try back, but were judged to have knocked on over the line the video official.
Warrington then restored the cushion with 20m remaining, Westerman throwing a dummy and then diving over for the hosts, Bringing the score to 8-28 with the successful conversion.
Minutes later the hosts were over again, Declan Patton diving on a lose ball to score, the successful conversion bring the score to 8-34.
With the result now beyond doubt, Warrington continued with the momentum, Matty Russell punching on a clever grubber kick to touch down in the corner.
Rob Lui gave the Salford fans something to cheer about scoring a brilliant try in the corner, which was converted by O’Brien, to bring the score to 14-40.
Salford finished the game on top, putting pressure on the Warrington line, but will be disappointed with the result following a promising start.
Final score: 40-14
The defeat confirms that Salford will compete in the Middle 8’s ‘Qualifiers’ when the league splits at the end of July.
Salford Red Devils: O’Brien, Caton-Brown, J. Griffin, Sa’u, Johnson, Lui, Dobson, Kopczak, Tomkins, G.Griffin, Jones, Murdoch-Masila, Flanagan, Hauraki, A.Walne, J.Walne, Kenny.
