Salford Red Devils 28 Widnes Vikings 20.

WIDNES lost their unbeaten record at Salford but Denis Betts men didn't go down without a fight.

The final scoreline of 28-20 in the Red Devils' favour doesn't begin to tell the story of an enthralling encounter.

When they look back on it, the Vikings will believe they lost the match in the first half hour.

Although they had a decent slice of the game in that crucial spell in respective of field-position, it was the home side who were the more clinical.

Tries from Justin Carney, Mark Flanagan, Greg Johnson and Josh Griffin saw Salford establish a 22-0 lead.

The Vikings had near-misses from Lloyd White, Stefan Marsh and Corey Thompson but the Red Devils defence was in resilient mood.

Widnes finally opened their account on 35 minutes when a superb raking 40/20 kick from Kevin Brown gave them a platform.

From the resulting pressure, fullback Rhys Hanbury crashed over to make it 22-4.

Salford were caught needlessly offiside at the subsequent restart and the Vikings were quickly in again.

Brown was again the architect, sending second row Chris Houston galloping clear to plough over home fullback Gareth O'Brien for his first try for the club.

Hanbury goaled to leave his side 22-10 adrift at the break.

It was all Widnes at the start of the second half and they were rewarded on 49 minutes when Hanbury picked up a loose ball and made inroads before feeding winger Marsh who stormed over from 30 metres.

A chance went begging following a White break as Charly Runciman was forced into touch and there was more frustration as Manase Manuokafoa lost the ball on the first tackle on the opposition line.

With 11 minutes remaining, Thompson followed up his own kick to score at the corner and Hanbury's superb goal made it 'game on' at 22-10.

A fine 40/20 kick from Salford skipper Tommy Lee was probably the gamebreaker.

It put the Red Devils on the front foot and loose-forward Flanagan sealed the win for his side with a try just to the side of the posts from Dobson's short ball.


Salford: O'Brien; Carney, Sa'u, J Griffin, Johnson; Lui, Dobson; Kopczak, Lee, G Griffin, Murdoch-Masila, Jones, Flanagan. Subs: Tomkins, A Walne, Lannon, Joseph.

Widnes: Hanbury; Thompson, Bridge, Runciman, Marsh; Mellor, Brown; O'Carroll, White, Dudson, Sa, Houston, Cahill. Subs: Farrell, Manuokafoa, Leuluai, Heremaia.

Half-Time: 22-10.

Referee: P Bentham.

Attendance: 5,098.