Wakefield 24-22 Salford: Trinity move into top eight with win over Red Devils
Last Updated: 12/03/17 6:18pm
Wakefield climbed into the top eight of the Betfred Super League after snatching a dramatic 24-22 win over Salford.
The Red Devils looked to have claimed the points after scoring four tries in a 12-minute purple patch to turn the game on its head early in the second half and lead 22-12.
Trinity rescued the game by scoring two tries in the last 11 minutes, with Sam Williams slotting a difficult conversion to edge his side back in front, but Salford missed a glorious chance to win it when second rower Ben Murdoch-Masila dropped the ball over the line in the last action of the match.
There was little hint of the drama to come or much for either set of supporters to cheer for the first half-an-hour as both teams struggled for any cohesion.
Gareth O'Brien gave the visitors the lead with an early penalty but Williams kicked two of his own to put Wakefield 4-2 up.
Salford, who lost centre Junior Sa'u before kick-off through illness, were twice reduced to 12 men, with Lama Tasi shown an early yellow card for a dangerous tackle on Anthony England, and hooker Logan Tomkins the unlucky man after his side were given a team warning.
Hooker Kyle Wood and prop Craig Huby were both held up over the line as Wakefield tried to make full use of the extra man as well as an early 8-1 penalty count, and the pressure eventually told.
Scrum-half Williams got centre Reece Lyne over for the game's first try on 30 minutes and his half-back partner Jacob Miller, Trinity's acting captain in the absence of the injured Danny Kirmond, grabbed a second eight minutes later, touching down Tom Johnstone's kick after second rower Matty Ashurst came up with a clean break.
Trinity, who gave debuts to former Hull KR prop Mitch Allgood and Hull loanee loose forward Dean Hadley, dominated the early stages of the second half.
But Huby lost the ball over the line and they paid the price when Salford scored from their first attack of the second half, stand-off Robert Lui getting Murdoch-Masila over for a try in his first game of the season.
O'Brien missed the conversion but the visitors drew level on 57 minutes when centre Kris Welham finished off a flowing move after they opted to run a penalty from in front of the posts.
Wakefield could not get their hands on the ball at that stage and the Red Devils demonstrated their growing confidence to work winger Greg Johnson over at the corner before second rower George Griffin took Josh Jones' superb inside pass to crash over for their fourth try.
O'Brien kicked his third goal to make it 22-12 but Wakefield stopped the rot and gave themselves renewed hope on 69 minutes when Wood got centre Bill Tupou charging over for their third try, which was converted by Williams.
Williams then provided the final pass for Lyne to slide over for his second try that levelled the scores and the former maintained his composure to kick his fourth goal of the game from wide out.
