Wakefield Trinity 26 Salford City Reds 22: Wakefield survive late rally to delight of Agar

The Wildcats played some delightful rugby league to establish a 22-6 interval lead with the aid of tries from Peter Fox, Dean Collis, Frankie Mariano and Danny Washbrook, while the impressive Danny Kirmond and Paul Aiton had ‘scores’ disallowed.

“The game should have been over at half-time,” said Agar.

“I thought we played some great football in the first half and should have had at least another two tries which would have made the game dead and buried.

“I thought we held on at the end. For the last 15 minutes we were all over the shop defensively. Maybe that’s a team that hasn’t won too many games this year.

“We’ll take the win and have a look at it in the week. I think we reminded ourselves that, when we do the right thing, we do look like a team that has good football in us.”

Salford’s only first-half reply was a breakaway score from Daniel Holdsworth but they put together some decent moves after the break and Chris Nero’s try brought them back into the game.

Paul Sykes steadied Wakefield’s nerves with a couple of penalties but Reds winger Ashley Gibson ran in two late tries to set up an exciting finish and the visitors could have snatched victory had Joel Moon or Matty Ashurst been able to finish off clear-cut try-scoring opportunities.

However, Salford coach Phil Veivers took little consolation from his side’s fightback.

“I didn’t think we were that good in the second half either,” he said.

“I give them credit for showing the courage and tenacity to try to come back into the game but, other than that, I thought we were poor the whole game.

“In the first half, we never got out of our half. They possibly should have been another two or three scores ahead of us.

“We never had one set down on their goal-line and we scored a try that came from our own goal-line. We completed at less than 50 per cent in the first half.

“The frustrating thing is that we had opportunities to win the game but it’s our skill level that’s let us down.”

The Reds ‘won’ the second half 16-4 but had left themselves too much to do after an error-strewn opening in which they simply could not handle the strong-running Wildcats forwards.

Acting captain Danny Kirmond and front row Oliver Wilkes were outstanding as Wakefield raced out of the blocks, scoring two tries in the first six minutes, and they had two others disallowed inside the opening quarter.

Loose forward Danny Washbrook combined with stand-off Isaac John to get impressive centre Collis over for the first and then took scrum-half Tim Smith’s inside pass to go over himself.

As the visitors struggled to get a foothold in the contest, Wildcats hooker Paul Aiton regathered his own grubber kick only for video referee Ben Thaler to rule a knock-on and Kirmond was denied a try for a forward pass.

Prop Andy Raleigh became the fifth Wakefield player to cross the line but he was held on his back and the misses began to look costly when Salford scored a breakaway try.

Winger Ashley Gibson collected Smith’s towering kick meant for Ben Cockayne 10 metres from his own line and raced upfield before sending the supporting Holdsworth over.

Holdsworth added the goal to cut the deficit to six points but Wakefield re-asserted their authority with two further tries in the last 10 minutes of the first half.

Second row Mariano crashed over for his first try of the season and a superb one-handed pass from Collis got winger Fox over for the Wildcats’ fourth try.

Paul Sykes’s third goal made it 22-6 at the break but Salford livened up in the second half, particularly following the introduction of back row Nero, who scored their second try after being put through a gap by Holdsworth.

Holdsworth’s second goal reduced the gap to 10 points but Sykes put the home side two scores in front with penalties on 64 and 71 minutes.

The Reds would have scored had centre Moon been able to gather Holdsworth’s high kick but the ball slipped through his grasp with the line beckoning, and Collis came up with a crucial tackle to haul down dangerous winger Jodie Broughton.

Salford saved their best rugby for the last five minutes, with Gibson going over for two tries in two minutes, and they would have snatched an unlikely victory had second row Matty Ashurst been able to take Moon’s pass with the line open.

Wakefield: Mathers, Fox, Collis, Sykes, Cockayne, John, Smith, Raleigh, Aiton, Wilkes, Kirmond, Mariano, Washbrook. Substitutes: Wood, Amor, Mellars, James.

Salford: Patten, Broughton, Gleeson, Moon, Gibson, Holdsworth, Smith, McPherson, Godwin, Paleaaesina, Ashurst, Adamson, Wild. Substitutes: Howarth, Nero, Jewitt, James.

Referee: P Bentham (Warrington).