
SALFORD RED DEVILS and Warrington Wolves played out an incredible Super League fixture that went into Golden Point.
Locked at 20-20 with the final hooter after 80 minutes, Salford’s Sam Stone was the hero, scoring on 85th minute try to keep the Red Devils firmly in the play-off race.
Warrington broke the deadlock in the opening two minutes when Joe Burgess dropped a towering kick into the arms of Matty Nicholson who enjoyed an easy run to the line. Stefan Ratchford converted for a 6-0 lead.
The hosts thought they had scored moments later when Deon Cross charged to the line but video referee Ben Thaler adjudged the Salford centre was tackled before getting up to dot down.
Paul Vaughan was the next to have a try ruled out when he tried to reach out through three tacklers, but there was no ruling out Ben Hellewell’s effort when the back-rower took a nice pass from Danny Addy. Marc Sneyd converted to level proceedings at 6-6.
And, the Red Devils went into a 12-6 lead at half-time when Brodie Croft dotted down on the half-hour mark after Andy Ackers picked up a loose ball.
However, the Wolves hit first in the second-half when Ken Sio spilled a ball with Ben Currie on hand to score. Ratchford converted to make it 12-12 before the Warrington centre edged the visitors into a 14-12 lead with a penalty.
Both sides were making plenty of errors but it was architect Croft that put Salford up 18-14 after his grubber ricocheted off a Warrington defender. Sneyd was on target.
The topsy-turvy nature of the fixture continued as George Williams latched on to a superb Matt Dufty offload with 11 minutes to go. Ratchford’s conversion restored Warrington’s two-point lead at 20-18.
Sneyd levelled the scores once more on 76 minutes when Gil Dudson was found to be offside after a pass flicked off James Harrison.
With no side able to land the final punch in normal time, the game went to Golden Point. And Sneyd thought he had won the game with a drop goal only for the ball to ricochet off the post.
However, the Red Devils weren’t to be denied a priceless victory in the Super League play-off race as Burgess raced down the left before feeding Sam Stone on his inside for a scintillating score.
Salford Red Devils
Ryan Brierley
Ken Sio
Deon Cross
Tim Lafai
Joe Burgess
Brodie Croft
Marc Sneyd
Brad Singleton
Andy Ackers
Jack Ormondroyd
Ben Hellewell
Sam Stone
Chris Atkin
Substitutes
King Vuniyayawa
Andrew Dixon
Danny Addy
Amir Bourouh
Tries: Hellewell, Croft 2, Stone
Goals: Sneyd 4/4
Warrington Wolves
Matt Dufty
Josh Thewlis
Peter Mata’utia
Stefan Ratchford
Matty Ashton
George Williams
Josh Drinkwater
Thomas Mikaele
Danny Walker
Paul Vaughan
Ben Currie
Matty Nicholson
James Harrison
Substitutes
Daryl Clark
Sam Kasiano
Gil Dudson
Jordy Crowther
Tries: Nicholson, Currie, Williams
Goals: Ratchford 4/4