Salford fans protest as season ends with Wakefield loss

Betfred Super League

Salford Red Devils (12) 16

Tries: Marsters, Connell, Walker Goals: Milnes 2

Wakefield Trinity (18) 52

Tries: Atoni, Hood, Johnstone 2, Rodwell, Scott 3, Smith Goals: Lino 8

Salford Red Devils fans protested against the club's ownership as their crisis-hit season came to an end with a 52-16 defeat by play-off bound Wakefield Trinity at the newly renamed CorpAcq Stadium.

The sixth-placed visitors ran in nine tries after trailing Salford by 12 points early on.

The home fans held a protest before the match, and some entered the field of play late in the second half and after the final hooter, as their 700th regular fixture in Super League looks to be their last for the foreseeable future.

During the season, Salford have suffered an exodus of leading players, made several late payments to staff, had a game called off because of "welfare concerns" and seen a winding-up petition filed against the club adjourned twice.

They have won only three games all season and have finished six points adrift at the bottom of the table, with a points difference of -895.

Wakefield's influential full-back Max Jowitt failed a head injury assessment (HIA) during the first half and will miss his side's play-off eliminator against Leigh in seven days' time.

Following a strong opening from the hosts, Esan Masters powered his way through to crash over for his third try in Super League this season and open the scoring.

Salford's Nathan Connell then knocked back Mason Lino's high kick to full-back Jack Walker, and he superbly raced clear before setting up Connell, who went half the pitch to score in style.

Midway through the first half and moments after the news that Jowitt had failed his HIA, Wakefield's Renouf Atoni fought his way through to score and put the visitors on the board.

With Salford beginning to tire and lose their discipline, a six again was awarded by referee Jack Smith close to the line, and hooker Liam Hood spotted a gap to dart over from dummy half, and after Lino added the extras, Trinity were level.

After Wakefield had a try ruled out by the video referee for a push on Louix Gorman, Johnstone then completed the first-half comeback, breaking inside to deceive two Salford defenders to score his 100th Wakefield try as Lino's goal kick gave them a 18-12 lead at the interval.

With Salford fans singing their displeasure at the club's ownership from the stands, Wakefield grabbed their fourth try when Ky Rodwell received a short ball from Harvey Smith to barge over under the sticks.

A terrific line break from Jake Trueman allowed Wakefield to set themselves before Cameron Scott finished superbly, diving in at the right corner, to grab the visitors' fifth try of the night.

As the match went on, Wakefield's power and experience began to become more obvious and Scott grabbed his second try in two minutes when he danced in from the right side before sliding over the line.

Three minutes later, Johnstone pounced on to a loose ball which had squirmed away from Connell following a kick chase to dive over his second.

Wakefield veteran Josh Griffin's line break allowed Smith to easily score under the sticks, before Scott grabbed his hat-trick, touching down after collecting a high kick.

Walker grabbed a late consolation try for the home side when he dived in at the corner, which was the cue for a number of Salford fans to show their emotion, running on to the pitch in demonstration at the club's ownership.

Wakefield head coach Daryl Powell told BBC Radio Leeds:

"I thought Salford came out and played with loads of energy and speed. Max [Jowitt] gets knocked out and we didn't really have any one whose played at full-back consistently - it was a little bit of chaos and Salford caused that chaos.

"I thought our second-half performance was outstanding. I thought we were direct and aggressive. The first half was just carnage.

[On the pitch invasion]: "It wasn't aggressive. I've been involved a few of these [pitch invasions] in the past and generally the fans were hostile, but that wasn't the case here. It wasn't too bad but it's still uncomfortable.

"Paul [Rowley] and all his staff have done a great job. You can't imagine unless you're in that situation how tough it's been. They've done a great job to get to the end with dignity."

Salford Red Devils: Walker; Connell, Marsters, Gorman, Darbyshire; Mellor, Milnes; Sangare, Davis, Lewis, Chan, Ruan, Wilson.

Interchanges: Macdonald, Murphy, Warren, Shaw.

Wakefield Trinity: Jowitt; Myers, Scott, Pratt, Johnstone; Trueman, Lino; McMeeken, Hood, Faatili, Nikotemo, Storton, Pitts.

Interchanges: Rodwell, Griffin, Atoni, Smith.

Referee: Jack Smith.