WARRINGTON Wolves scored seven tries without reply as they defeated Salford 32-2 at the Halliwell Jones to stay second in Super League and keep the pressure on Wigan Warriors.
It was the visitors who scored first with an early Daniel Holdsworth penalty
but that was the last time they were to trouble the scoreboard as tries from Chris
Hicks and Ryan Atkins gave Warrington a 10-2 half-time lead.
Chris Riley, (pictured above) twice, Richie Mathers David Solomona and Hicks all went over to put the result beyond doubt but with Hicks and Riley scoring their second efforts in the last three minutes it added some gloss in a game which was not as one sided as the scoreline suggested.
Riley’s tries took his tally for the season to 12 and capped a tale of two contrasting halves.
They were fortunate to be 10-2 ahead at the interval but bossed the second half, helped by a number of Salford mistakes.
Warrington responded to Holdsworth’s early penalty when Matt King put Hicks in at the corner.
But the Reds missed the chance to level when Holdsworth kicked a straightforward penalty wide and wasted another opportunity to regain the lead when Mathers squeezed Steve Tyrer into touch.
Instead they were hit by a sucker punch when a Tyrer kick rebounded off Atkins, who then ran the length of the field to score.
The home side extended their lead when Riley latched on to Simon Grix’s kick, before Mathers dummied his way in for the fourth try.
Karl Fitzpatrick spilled the ball to give Solomona the simplest of scores, with Hicks and Riley rubbing salt in Salford’s wounds.
After the match Warrington coach Tony Smith said: “It was a good scoreline and there were a lot of points to be had in the second half.
“We got a handle on how to control the conditions in the second half. It was a fair effort to get that scoreline.
“To keep our opponents try-less in slippery conditions is a great effort.”
To see a slide show of action pictures from the match click on the image above.
Warrington: Mathers, Hicks, King, Atkins, Riley, Grix, Myler, Morley, Monaghan, Wood, L. Anderson, Westwood, Bridge.
Replacements: Carvell, Harrison, Higham, Solomona.
Salford: Fitzpatrick, Broughton, Henry, Talau, Tyrer, M. Smith, Holdsworth, Cashmere, Alker, Boyle, Sibbit, Sidlow, Swain.
Replacements: Gibson, Littler, Leuluai, Jewitt.
Att: 11,467.
Ref: T Alibert
