Salfords hopes of a top 8 finish ended as a mixture of Marwan Koukashs failure to get any points back in Salfords appeal and defeat in Warrington meant Salford now have to plan for another season battling in the middle 8s. Paul Whiteside takes you through the game.
After a real tough day for the faithful Salford made the trip to Warrington. Talking to fans before the game there seemed a spirit and togetherness on the terraces. The game started at a good tempo and Salford grabbed the first points from a great grubber kick from Robert Lui as Junior Sau pounced to score. Gareth o Brien missed the goal kick, 0-4. Salford attack again and a half chance goes begging when Gareth o Brien can't take the pass. The Reds then receive a penalty 40 yards out and cautiously kick for goal. It's wide and the score stays at 0-4. Chris Sandow shows some lovely footwork and Daryl Clark grubber kicks but Craig kopzack is there to clear up the danger close to the Salford line. 21 minutes gone and Warrington look to get away with crossing but on the next play there over the line. The video referee is called upon and the try is awarded to Joe Westerman. Ratchford kicks the goal 6-4.
Gareth o Brien takes a huge bomb brilliantly as Stefan Ratchford follows up with a solid tackle, o Brien manages to escape the in goal area with a wonderful piece of determination. Salford come up with an error 20 yards out and the wolves are on the attack. Junior Sau fails to track his man and Ryan Atkins is in for the second wolves try. Young Declan Patton kicks off the touch line 12-4. Two minutes to the break and poor defending again from Weller Hauraki as Ben Currie splits the defence and Atkins strolls over. Patton kicks another tough conversion 18-4 at half time.
Warrington start the second half with a try from Tom Lineham. Ratchford misses the kick 22-4. Salford begin to fight back and Lui and o Brien combine well to send Josh Griffin over. Rather unluckily at the conversion poor Gareth o Brien slips and misses. 22-8. The Red Devils start to get on top, a great burst from Sau and Shaun Kenny is in support but he knocks on under pressure from the wolves defence going over the line for what looked a certain try.
The next set Sandow takes the pressure of the wolves with a 40-20, they fail to capitalise as Ratchford knocks on. 20 minutes left and Sandow changes the game with a lovely reverse kick which he follows up himself and forces a drop out. Westerman scoots over from dummy half to score a real soft try with Patton adding the goal to take the game away from Salford 28-8. Mason Caton Brown comes up with an error from a wolves kick and Michael Dobson is caught offside. Warrington attack and Patton is over for a try, he also adds the goal 34-8. Sandow is having a special night and puts another 40-20 kick in to really knock the stuffing out of Salford. On the next set his sublime grubber kick sees another try as matty Russell goes over. Patton adds the goal 40-8. Ten minutes to go and Robert Lui from at set scrum shows a glimmer of magic to dummy his way over for a nice try. O Brien adds the goal 40-14.
As the clock counts down the grafting Craig kopzack is pulled back with the line open for a forward pass, he really deserved a try and looked dejected at the decision from the referee joe Cobb. With four minutes remains Greg Johnson seemed certain to score but was denied by the video referee after losing the ball over the line. Over all a disappointing day for Salford. With two games left before the spilt we are now going to be playing in the middle 8s and battling for super league survival. The supporters were awesome again tonight and there loyalty is a great comfort in a difficult time of the season! Final score Warrington 40 Salford 14.
Ian Watson in the press conference after the game said
First half we let them score some soft tries, we had a real dig early doors, but 2nd half we were flat.
we have a reaily good group, we have spoken about adversity, but emotion only takes you so far. its been a tough day all round.
We spoke at the beginning of the year about being competitive. We need to finish the year strongly.
We need to finish these next two games and make sure we know that we are a top 6 team.
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