St Helens beat Salford to all but secure their place in Super League’s play-offs
A 90-point win by Wigan is one of two results needed to deny St Helens a top-four spot.
Substitute forward Alex Walmsley grabbed two tries as St Helens overcame 12-man Salford 30-4 to effectively seal their place in the Betfred Super League semi-finals.
A third successive victory snuffed out Wakefield’s lingering hopes of a top-four finish and lifted Saints up to third place with a healthy points difference, leaving Wigan likely needing to win by an improbable 90-point margin in their final Super 8s fixture.
That comes at Wakefield on Saturday and by then, if Hull have taken at least a point from Castleford on Friday, their season will be effectively over.
Salford battled hard despite the 37th-minute dismissal of forward Ryan Lannon for a high and late tackle but finish a season that promised so much with a ninth defeat in their last 10 matches.
What they said
Tweet of the match
Key moment
Salford were holding their own against their title-chasing visitors until they were reduced to 12 men with the sending-off of forward Lannon in the 36th minute and the numerical disadvantage proved too big a handicap.
Main man
Ratings
What’s next?
Betfred Super League play-off semi-finals: Thursday, September 28 and Friday, September 29.
