Super League: Wakefield Trinity 32-6 Salford Red Devils – Struggling hosts earn second win in three games

Struggling Wakefield Trinity earned a morale-boosting comfortable win over Salford Red Devils to make it two Super League victories from three matches.

Lee Kershaw added to the hosts’ tally, while Dagger maintained his accuracy with the boot to extend their lead.

Alex Gerrard reduced the deficit but the hosts held on to register a valuable two points at Belle Vue.

The result was Wakefield’s second win of the season and second in three games.

However, they remain bottom of Super League but are now four points off 11th-placed Castleford.

Salford’s defeat, their seventh of the campaign, meant they lost ground at the top of the table as St Helens beat the Tigers later on Friday.

It was an impressive first period from the beleaguered hosts as they raced ahead through Kay after just four minutes, with Dagger playing a starring role.

He duly converted from Kay’s touchdown, and kicked two penalties either side of his own converted try just before the half-hour mark.

Trinity swiftly added to their tally when Tom Lineham intercepted and set up Lyne to cross over under the sticks, with Dagger maintaining his 100% kicking record.

Gerrard’s try late on was a rare spark for Salford, who slipped to a rare defeat as Wakefield proved too strong and gave their hopes of survival a huge boost.

Wakefield Trinity coach Mark Applegarth:

“We talked about having a big start, we didn’t want to do that again after last week. I’m really pleased we stuck to the plan. One to 17 did the job.

“We’ve closed that [relegation] gap but we’ve still got some work to do. We’ve been working hard and I’m just pleased for the lads.

“[But] we’re not getting to get carried away with ourselves. It was an excellent performance but we need to back it up.

“You’ve got to stay focused. It feels good, it feels nice. No one likes losing.

“But it’s really important you stay level headed and don’t get too caught up with the emotion of it all. We’ll just take it a week at a time.”

Salford Red Devils boss Paul Rowley:

“We knew that it would be do-or-die for Wakefield.

“They’re used to this sort of jeopardy, cliff-edge sort of moment. We expected that, and so it was important we had a lot of enthusiasm and energy. So we got out-enthused, they did the basics better than us.

“It’s probably the worst performance since I’ve been in charge. It’s tough after a short turnaround from Wigan, but I don’t want to take away from a team that was desperate and played fantastically well.”

Wakefield: Jowitt; Lineham, Lyne, Croft, Kershaw; Dagger, Gale; Bowden, Hood, Battye, Pitts, Ashurst, Kay.

Interchanges: Bowes, Eseh, Atoni, Fifita.

Salford: Atkin; Williams, Sio, Lafai, Burgess; Watkins, Sneyd; Hellewell, Bourouh, Vuniyayawa, Dixon, Cross, Partington.

Interchanges: Dupree, Gerrard, Sidlow, Longstaff.

Referee: Ben Thaler.