St Helens thrash Salford in 11-try demolition

Kyle Feldt has scored eight tries for St Helens in three games against Salford Red Devils this season

Betfred Super League

St Helens (20) 58

Tries: Feldt 3, Dagnall 2, Knowles, Clark, Sailor 2, Burns 2 Goals: Lomax 7

Salford (0) 0

St Helens overpowered bottom side Salford Red Devils at the Totally Wicked Stadium to move within a point of the Super League top four.

The Red Devils showed plenty of defensive fight, but trailed 20-0 at the break to a Kyle Feldt double and scores from Owen Dagnall and Morgan Knowles.

Daryl Clark enjoyed a simple run-in and audacious football skills gave Dagnall his second before Tristan Sailor strolled over as the visitors faded.

The floodgates then opened as Jake Burns scored a quickfire double, Sailor grabbed his second and Feldt completed his hat-trick to cap an 11-try rout.

Paul Rowley said his Salford side were showing promising signs in their 10th successive Super League defeat by Hull last weekend, and the adjournment of their winding-up hearing in midweek was a further boost.

Their attempts at damage limitation were laudable, but ultimately fruitless against an ominous display from Saints who moved just behind fourth-placed Leigh with a fifth win from their past six games.

It was another comprehensive display from Saints in their third meeting with Salford this season.

In those three games, Salford have put just four points past Saints, with February's 82-0 humbling followed by a 46-4 drubbing by Paul Wellens' side just two weeks ago.

Feldt scored one of St Helens' 15 tries in that 82-0 dismantling of the Red Devils, and it took just nine minutes to get the ball rolling here as a defensive lapse in concentration allowed him to power through a gap.

While unable to lay a glove on the hosts, Salford showed resolve and commitment in defence, but lost Saints loanee Jonny Vaughan to a dislocated shoulder after 17 minutes.

And moments later, Deon Cross' offload put Dagnall in for a diving finish in the left corner from a set which the 18-year-old had ignited with a burst inside his own half.

Nimble footwork from Sailor created an overlap on the right edge for Feldt to go in for his second.

And Salford's defensive efforts looked to be taking their toll when Knowles went through a sizeable gap for a simple run-in shortly before the interval.

Within eight minutes of the restart, Knowles' inside pass sent Clark away through the visitors' soft centre for an easy finish before Dagnall sidefooted Jonny Lomax's pass to the right corner and then sprinted to dot it down.

It began to look ominous when Harry Robertson's burst and one-handed offload gave Sailor a clear run to the line for a seventh Saints try inside the hour.

The Australian sprinted under the posts but gifted the score to Burns for his first try of the season, and the hooker had to wait just three minutes for his second as he burrowed over from close range.

Lomax's seventh goal took Saints to 50 points, before Sailor breached a now-porous defence for his second score and sent Feldt over in the corner for his third.

'Today I won't accept excuses' - reaction

St Helens head coach Paul Wellens told BBC Radio Merseyside:

"I think people were just expecting us to go out there and put points on, but that's probably the strongest Salford team they've fielded in a good number of weeks. There was a lot of experience on the edges.

"Our players worked that out throughout the course of the game that if we actually stay a bit more patient and stick through the middle of the field we're going to get more joy and that's how it transpired."

Salford Red Devils head coach Paul Rowley told BBC Radio Manchester:

"It's not often I've raised my voice at half-time because I've had a lot of empathy and sympathy and appreciation of the effort.

"I've a lot of respect for my team, but it's important to recognise when we don't apply ourselves as good as we want to.

"There's not been many days when that's happened so they can be forgiven. There are reasons and excuses and most weeks we've had a reason, but today I won't accept excuses.

"We had enough good players on paper to put up a better performance - not to necessarily get the win, but to put up a better performance."

St Helens: Sailor; Feldt, Robertson, Cross, Dagnall; Lomax, Mbye; Walmsley, D Clark, Lees, Wingfield, Whitley, Knowles.

Interchanges: Paasi, Delaney, Stephens, Burns.

Salford: Brierley; Ryan, Hankinson, Marsters, Vaughan; Nikorima, Richardson; Ormondroyd, Rugless, Hill, Foster, Russell, Wilson.

Interchanges: Connell, Glover, Whitehead, Sangare.

Referee: Aaron Moore.