Super League: Salford Red Devils 26-30 Wigan Warriors
Last updated on .From the section Rugby League
| Betfred Super League |
|---|
| Salford (6) 26 |
| Tries: Griffin, Evalds, Walker, Lussick Goals: Inu 5 |
| Wigan (14) 30 |
| Tries: Burgess, Bullock, Greenwood 2, Hardaker Goals: Hardaker 5 |
Wigan Warriors survived a scare to beat Salford Red Devils and end a three-game Super League losing streak.
Joe Burgess opened the scoring for Wigan before Joe Bullock crossed for the visitors' second.
But George Griffin and Niall Evalds pulled Salford within two points.
Joey Lussick put the hosts in front after Joe Greenwood and Adam Walker traded tries but Greenwood and Zak Hardaker both crossed late on to give Wigan a huge victory.
Reigning Super League champions Wigan have had a poor start to the season and started the day in 10th position, level on points with bottom sides Leeds and London Broncos.
They were well beaten in their derby with St Helens on Friday but took control of the early stages of the match thanks to Burgess and Bullock's scores.
However, Salford did not sit back and enjoyed an inspired comeback courtesy of Lussick's second-half try, which put them 24-20 ahead.
But Wigan atoned for their Good Friday defeat with a comeback of their own, as Greenwood and Hardaker's scores ensured victory and moved Wigan up to eighth in the Super League table.
Salford coach Ian Watson:
"I'm massively disappointed. We inflicted the defeat on ourselves really.
"To be honest I thought we were all over the place in the first half.
"In the second half we got ourselves in a position to win the game and five minutes out we should be seeing the match out from there but errors have come and bitten us again.
"It would have been a great Easter if we could have picked off Warrington and Wigan which would see us competing at the top end of the table, which is where we want to be."
Wigan head coach Adrian Lam told BBC Radio Manchester:
"I'm going to be losing hair quickly but we were desperate for any sort of win.
"We got the job done and I knew it was going to be a bit of a dogfight at times but we've been here twice in the last few weeks, it's a very difficult place to come to but we've got the wins.
"Thank goodness there was a game on Monday because it gave us the chance to recover from Friday's disappointing performance and start again.
"We were desperate to get a result in our favour, we scrambled really well and did whatever it took to get it and we're really happy."
Salford: Evalds, Sa'u, Bibby, Wood, Dudson, Jones, Griffin, Walker, Burke, Tomkins, Olpherts, Inu, Hastings.
Interchanges: Lussick, McCarthy, Nakubuwai, Murray.
Wigan: Escare, Gildart, Burgess, Williams, Leiluai, Flower, Greenwood, Isa, Marshall, Hardaker, Bullock, Partington, Shorrocks.
Interchanges: Tautai, Hankinson, Smithies, Bourouh.
Referee: B Thaler.
