Pictures Eddie Whitham
WARRINGTON Wolves suffered a second drubbing of the weekend as they were beaten 38-12 at home by high-flying Salford.
Niall Evalds hat-trick helped the Red Devils to a seventh straight victory, as they keep up the pressure on league leaders Castleford.
For Warrington, their recent revival is fast becoming a distant memory as they cling on to their spot in the top eight with nearest rivals Catalans still to play.
Tony Smith would have wanted a reaction to the 42-0 hammering at the hands of Leeds in front of the Sky Sports cameras on Friday, but he didn’t get one.
Jake Bibby, Evalds and Junior Sa’u helped the visitors to an 18-0 lead and a dominant position they were never likely to relinquish.
Although Warrington stopped the rot through Brad Dwyer’s try, they went in 22-6 down at half time.
Any hopes of a Wolves comeback were well gone by the hour mark, Evalds adding to his first half score with two tries to put the Reds 32-6 to the good.
Tom Lineham pulled one back for Warrington, but further salt was rubbed in to the wounds when former Wolves playmaker Gareth O’Brien kicked a 40/20 and from that platform, Kris Brining was able to scoot over from dummy half for another Salford try.
That proved to be an end to the scoring on a disastrous weekend for Warrington which will be compounded should Catalans pick up a win over Hull and displace the Wolves in the top eight.
Next weekend, Warrington face a crucial game against Huddersfield, who could move level on points with the Wolves with a win.
Meanwhile, Wolves coach Tony Smith was forced to deny suggestions that he had resigned from his post immediately after the game.
A mischievous post on the club’s official Facebook page stated that he had resigned, though the club soon confirmed that it was a result of the page being hacked.
Smith said: “I’m still here. I don’t give up that easily.”
Warrington: Ratchford; Russell, Hughes, Atkins, Lineham; Brown, Patton; Hill, Clark, Cooper, Jullien, Philbin, Westerman. Replacements: Sims, Dwyer, G. King, Savelio.
Salford: O’Brien; Evalds, Sa’u, Bibby, Johnson; Lui, T Carney; Tasi, Brinning, Hasson, Hauraki, Murdoch-Masila, Flanagan. Replacements: Kopczak, Wood, Krasniqi, Murray.
