Woeful Wolves pay the penalty

WARRINGTON Wolves boss Tony Smith paid the penalty for resting a number

of key players as his side were crushed 48-24 at Salford.
The only consolation was table topping Wigan suffering a shock 22-30 home defeat to crisis club Bradford Bulls.
Second placed Warrington, with only one defeat in their last 10 outings, were completely outclassed by ninth placed Salford as Smith took the decision to rest the Monaghan brothers, Lee Briers, Garreth Carvell and Brett Hodgson, with Ben Westwood still sidelined following a hernia operation.
Skipper Morley returned on the bench from injury with David Solomona having his first run out of the season and Richie Myler back from a lengthy lay off to face his former club.
It took the home side just three minutes to open the scoring after Matty Blythe coughed up possession allowing Sean Gleeson to send Danny Williams in the corner with Daniel Holdsworth adding the extras from out wide.
From the kick off Salford kicked a 40-20 to keep up the pressure and although the Wolves held their line, when it was eventually breached on 23 minutes by Jodie Broughton, the floodgates opened.
Two minutes later Vinnie Anderson took great pleasure in extending the lead against his former club after Mike Cooper conceded a needless penalty, with Holdsworth’s conversion making it 18-0.
Warrington then conceded their third try in six minutes as Luke Patten tore through the defence with Holdsworth’s conversion making it 24-0.
A consolation try from Stefan Ratchford (pictured) against his former club just before the break, converted by Gareth O’Brien, gave the Wolves some hope as they had been playing against a strong breeze.
But when Salford scored first after the break, with Broughton going over for his second try, it was effectively game over at 28-6.
Salford scented a famous victory and went for the kill as Warrington continued to give away sloppy penalties. Trent Waterhouse was penalised for a ball steal and from the resulting set Matty Smith sliced through a woeful defence to score under the sticks, giving Holdsworth the easiest of conversions to make it 34-6.
On 49 minutes another sweeping move saw Anderson go over for his second try with Holdsworth adding the extras and then Williams crossed for his second on 55 minutes to make it 44-6.
To their credit Warrington showed some fighting spirit in the final 15 minutes as Myler side stepped through a tiring Salford defence with O’Brien adding the extras.
On 69 minutes a long pass from Ratcford sent Chris Riley in at the corner for his 18th try of the season, with O’Brien landing a great touchline conversion and then five minutes from time Ratchford off loaded to send Matty Blythe over. O’Brien goaled to give the scoreline a little more respectability at 44-24.
But it was Salford who had the final say as Patten scored wide out with the last move of the game, with Holdsworth just failing to bring up the 50 with the wind drifting his conversion attempt wide.