WARRINGTON Wolves recorded back-to-back wins for the first time since the beginning of April, but were made to work for it by plucky strugglers Salford.
Sam Burgess’ side could only be sure of the points when Stefan Ratchford touched down with seven minutes to go, after he had come on at dummy half to settle things down in the second half.
Salford haven’t even managed a try a match at home since their only win over Huddersfield, and they only managed a try in this one, but the boot of Chris Hankinson kept them within touching distance in a game played in swirling wind and rain at the Salford Community Stadium.
Jake Thewlis almost got in for the opening try on four minutes, planting the ball on the corner flag as he tried to finish acrobatically in the left corner.
The deadlock was broken on eight minutes when Matt Dufty seared through a huge gap to go under the crossbar.
Any signs that would result in a one-sided contest were shut down when Salford got on the board on 23 minutes, when a mistake by Josh Thewlis gifted the hosts good ball and Danny Richardson found Ethan Ryan to finish well on the right.
Richardson’s kicking game was causing problems, and off the back of his 40/20, a Hankinson penalty levelled things up at 6-6. Hankinson added a second penalty to put Salford in front, only the second time they had led a game in Super League all season.
But Warrington took the lead before half time, again finding a huge gap through the middle, this time Ben Currie finding James Harrison on his left shoulder to go through.
Their 12-8 half time lead was wiped out within 12 minutes of the restart, Hankinson adding penalties following a high tackle by Sam Stone and an offside penalty for 12-all.
Warrington responded when Dufty’s smart kick to the right corner was pounced on by Josh Thewlis for 16-12.
The key moment came when a high Richardson kick was spilled by Jake Thewlis under pressure to enabled Esan Marsters to touch down, only for him to be denied by the video referee, who rightly ruled that Thewlis had been tackled by Ryan in the air.
A Marc Sneyd penalty against his former club opened up a six point deficit before Ratchford pounced on a Marsters spill in his in-goal area to make sure of the points.
Salford: Brierley, Ryan, Hankinson, Marsters, Connell, Nikorima, Richardson, Ormondroyd, Robb, Hill, Russell, Warren, Shorrocks. Subs: Sangare, Wilson, Glover, Chan.
Warrington: Dufty, Josh Thewlis, Tai, Wrench, Jake Thewlis, Williams, Sneyd, Vaughan, Crowther, Yates, Stone, Fitzgibbon, Currie. Subs: King, Harrison, Ratchford, Philbin.
