TWO tries in the last four minutes helped Warrington secure a hard earned 10-27 victory over Salford City Reds at The Willows tonight.
It was Warrington’s third Super League victory of the season over Salford, including Murrayfield and by far the toughest.
Defences were on top for much of the game as the home team looked for their third consecutive victory while Warrington sought to consolidate second spot in the league.
Two first half tries from full-back Richie Mathers (pictured) put Warrington in control as they built up a 6-16 half-time lead.
Winger Chris Hicks broke the deadlock after a tough opening 15 minutes to give Warrington the lead as Chris Bridge was wide with the conversion.
Then on 24 minutes Warrington extended the lead as Mathers went over for his first try, with Bridge again off target.
But the Red Devils hit back within three minutes through Henry with Tyrer adding the extras to bring the home side within two points.
Warrington extended their advantage as Mathers went over for his second try with Bridge finding his kicking boots with a conversion and a late penalty to make it 6-16 at the break.
It was Salford he drew first blood after the re-start as Broughton went over after 53 minutes to make it 10-16.
In a tough slog Lee Briers showed all his experience to land a crucial drop-goal 15 minutes from time to ensure the home side had to score twice.
Then in the closing stages Warrington showed their extra fitness as Mickey Higham and David Solomona both crossed in the closing stages, with Bridge converting Higham’s effort to ensure a Wolves victory.
After the game Warrington’s assistant coach James Lowes, who has been called up as England assistant to Steve McNamara and also been linked with a move back to his former club Bradford Bulls, said he felt last Sunday’s gruelling Challenge Cup tie at Bradford had left the Wolves drained of energy.
“We’ve had a couple of really tough games recently and I think Bradford took a lot more out of us than we anticipated.
“We were not as fluent with the ball which is disappointing but it gives us something to work on.
“Defensively I thought we were very, very good, to give away that much possession and only concede a try in each half.
“I’ve got to commend the lads for playing the full 80 minutes. We nicked a couple of tries at the end which I thought we deserved. We didn’t create a lot of chances but the ones we created we took.”
For more action photos from the match CLICK HERE
Warrington: Richie Mathers; Chris Hicks, Matt King, Ryan Atkins, Chris Riley; Chris Bridge, Lee Briers; Adrian Morley, Michael Monaghan, Ben Harrison, Vinnie Anderson, Simon Grix. Subs: Mickey Higham, Lee Mitchell, Mike Cooper, David Solomona.
Salford: Mark Henry; Jodie Broughton, Willie Talau, Ashley Gibson, Ste Tyrer; Matty Smith, Jeremy Smith; Ryan Boyle, Malcolm Alker, Lee Jewitt, Ian Sibbit, Stuart Littler, Luke Swain. Subs: Phil Leuluai, Adam Sidlow, Luke Adamson, Marc Sneyd.
Atten 6,093
