Salford Red Devils registered three hat-tricks from Niall Evalds, Ben Jones-Bishop and Greg Johnson in a nine-try performance that gave them a 28-50 victory against Halifax at The Shay.
Halifax attacked early on, but were unable to turn their pressure into points, and when the Red Devils went to the other end Niall Evalds touched down from a pass by Harrison Hansen, with Josh Griffin converting.
And two minutes later Evalds was in again when he touched down a superb kick inside from the touchline by winger Greg Johnson, with Griffin again converting.
Halifax got on the scoreboard after 17 minutes, however, when Dane Manning crossed and Steve Tyrer’s goal reduced the deficit to six points.
The Red Devils extended their lead with two tries in the final ten minutes of the first half, with Greg Johnson touching down after smart dummy-half play from Liam Hood, and then Ben Jones-Bishop adding a try, with Griffin converting, to make the half-time score 6-22.
Scott Murrell was the first to score for Halifax after the interval, but Evalds then picked up a poor kick by Saltonstall on the half-way line to restore Salford’s 16-point advantage.
But when Josh Griffin dropped a Murrell bomb it led to James Saltonstall scoring, and then on 56 minutes Jacob Fairbank supported a Connor Robinson break to make the score 22-28, with the Halifax fans urging their team on.
But Jones-Bishop and Johnson both touched down twice, with each of them scoring a length of the field effort, to take the game away from Halifax at 22-50, and when Adam Tangata touched down near the end it was no more than a consolation for the home side in front of 2,186 spectators.
A full report, photos and analysis from this game will feature in Monday’s edition of League Express.
