Super League: Salford Red Devils 18-14 Wigan Warriors
- Published
Niall Evalds scored two second-half tries to swing the match in Salford's favour
Betfred Super League |
|---|
Salford Red Devils (2) 18 |
Tries: Evalds 2, Brown Goals: Lolohea 3 |
Wigan Warriors (14) 14 |
Tries: Hastings, Powell Goals: Hankinson 3 |
Salford overturned a 12-point deficit to beat Super League leaders Wigan and end a run of four straight defeats.
Wigan led 14-2 with first-half tries from former Salford talisman Jackson Hastings and hooker Sam Powell.
However, Niall Evalds' second-half double - the second a 90-metre run to the line - brought the score level.
Another long-distance break, this time from Rhys Williams, provided the platform for Kevin Brown to dive over from dummy half for the winner.
Wigan looked on course for a fifth successive victory when Hastings - who inspired the Red Devils to a Grand Final appearance last season before joining the Warriors - marked his return to the AJ Bell Stadium with the opening try.
To Salford's credit, they competed gamely and were never completely out of the contest, clawing the deficit back to six points when full-back Evalds darted through a hole in the Wigan line with 20 minutes remaining.
That was the catalyst for a thrilling Salford comeback, which Brown completed with a close-range score against his first senior club.
With the Warriors pressing in the final couple of minutes, former Wigan centre Dan Sarginson put in a huge hit on Bevan French to cause the dangerous full-back to knock on and snuff out the visitors' final attack.
Super League fixtures are going ahead as scheduled, despite many other sporting events in the UK being postponed because of the coronavirus outbreak.
Salford's game against Wigan in front of spectators at the AJ Bell Stadium went ahead on a day that Leeds postponed their Super League trip to Catalans Dragons on Saturday as a precaution against coronavirus
Salford full-back Niall Evalds told BBC Radio 5 Live Sports Extra:
"We needed that one. We haven't started the season too well and we have had a few losses, especially at home. We needed to bounce back and there's no better place to do it than Wigan at home.
"Our game is built on defence and if it's not on, we're struggling. We dug in tonight, completed our sets and ground them down."
Wigan half-back Jackson Hastings:
"Coming back (to Salford) was great, we started like a house on fire and went into half-time really confident, but we just didn't play in the second half.
"We need to play better than that. We're seven games in and that performance wasn't good enough. We've got to focus on what we did wrong tonight. It's back to the drawing board, as they say.
"I am grateful to Salford for what they did for me. It's just disappointing to have come back and lost."
Salford: Evalds; Sio, Welham, Sarginson, Williams; Lolohea, Brown; Mossop, Lussick, Yates, Lannon, Roberts, McCarthy.
Interchanges: Pauli, Ikahihifo, Flanagan, Kear.
Wigan: French; Manfredi, Hankinson, Bibby, Marshall; Leuluai, Hastings; Burgess, Powell, Byrne, Isa, Farrell, Smithies.
Interchanges: Bullock, Havard, Clark, Smith.
Referee: James Child