Stefan Ratchford stars on his return as Warrington win in Rivals Round

Warrington Wolves got back to winning ways and ended a run of five games without a win as they got past Salford Red Devils in Rivals Round of the Betfred Super League.

A fine performance from Stefan Ratchford along with a hat-trick from Toby King got Daryl Powell’s side back to winning ways at the Halliwell Jones Stadium.

The first 40 minutes were largely controlled by the home side who opened the scoring within seven minutes.

Wire’s intensity impressed as they got the ball moving quickly and put King in possession as he slid through a number of Salford bodies to slam the ball down and give the Wolves the lead.

And it wasn’t long before King had his second and doubled the Wire’s advantage. A high spiralling kick from Gareth Widdop caused bemusement amongst the Salford back-line and a slip from the Devils allowed King to steal in and touch the ball down for his second of the evening.

Wire were hungry for more and as they caused havoc down the left hand-side, the hosts hit on the break and as they looked to continue the move, Salford full-back Ryan Brierley caused disruption by holding on and was giving a yellow card by Jack Smith for his troubles.

With Salford down to 12 for the next ten minutes, Wire took full advantage of the extra man, and it was Matty Ashton who piled over in the corner to add the third try of the night.

The try led to Ratchford’s first conversion miss of the night but left Wire 16-0 just after the half-hour mark.

But Salford made it interesting with 15 seconds left of the half as Brierley’s inch-perfect pass found Ken Sio on the right touchline who piled over and got Salford back in the game.

Marc Sneyd expertly added the extras which hit the post before going through the sticks which was followed by saluting the taunting Wire fans standing behind him, meaning it was game on for the second half.

But early in the second half, Warrington quickly asserted their dominance once again with an early try from Joe Philbin for his first of the season after he piled through the sticks to put Wire back into a healthy position.

But the away side weren’t for disappearing and as the away fans made themselves heard at the Halliwell Jones Stadium, the men in red responded with a try of their own as Jack Wells smartly deceived the Wire back-line and smashed through to the surprise of the Wolves and Salford threatened a comeback once more.

The try began a period of relentless pressure from the visitors which put Warrington’s character to a huge test.

But after minutes of going close with no reward to show for their efforts, Warrington went over against the run of play to put the game out of reach for Paul Rowley’s side.

Matty Ashton doubled his tally for the night as he dived into the near corner and finally relieved some of the anxious feelings amongst the stands.

Ashton’s second appeared to knock the belief out of the Salford side and it wasn’t long before Wire had their final try of the night as King claimed his hat-trick with just over five minutes to go.

Salford continued to fight till the final hooter and nearly got themselves a consolation try as Wells tried to spin over the line but was simply outnumbered by the Wire defence which on the whole, had been dominant for large parts of the evening.

But there was a hectic final 20 seconds to the encounter as Salford got over the line with a try believed to be scored by Brierley.

Sneyd converted the kick after what felt like an age since the final hooter was sounded and left the final score as 32-18 with it ending in a much-needed win for the Wolves.

Warrington will hope to build on the positive win as they look ahead to their next contest against Hull FC on Easter Monday whilst Paul Rowley will look to take the positives from the loss as Salford face Catalans at the AJ Bell Stadium.

Follow us on Twitter @ProstInt