Saints secure third place

Sia Soliola
12 April 2012

St Helens overcame a spirited but indisciplined Salford 31-6 to secure a third-place finish in Super League and a trip to Warrington or Wigan in the first round of the play-offs.

Saints were not at their best at the Stobart Stadium and captain James Graham was sin-binned for displaying his frustration, but they had enough to class to pile the points on against their lowly opposition.

Fresh from their first win under new coach Matt Parish, the Reds were the livelier side in the opening quarter as they went in pursuit of a first away win over Saints since 1980.

The visitors were on course to end their 30-year wait when winger Danny Williams took Stephen Wild's pass to cross for his sixth try in his last three matches, with Daniel Holdsworth adding the goal.

Salford were good value for their 6-0 lead and they would have been further in front had full-back Luke Patten managed to touch down Holdsworth's grubber kick just before it went dead. Saints looked out of sorts at that stage and the volatile Graham vented his anger after 15 minutes by kicking the ball into the stand after having a try disallowed by referee Phil Bentham.

The England prop was shown a yellow card for his petulance but the numbers were evened up within a minute when Salford prop Ray Cashmere was also sin-binned for a high tackle on James Roby, the latest of a series of infringements that tested the patience of the referee.

The first eight penalties all went against the visitors and the weight of possession told when Saints scored two tries in seven minutes to go in front. Second-rower Sia Soliola demonstrated his power to crash through the Salford defence before winger Tom Makinson squeezed over at the corner.

Jamie Foster added both conversions and, after Roby had a try disallowed for obstruction, Jonny Lomax increased his side's lead to 13-6 with a 40-metre drop goal on the stroke of half-time.

Saints could breathe more easily once centre Francis Meli forced his way over for a third try nine minutes into the second half, after a high crossfield kick from Michael Shenton had bamboozled the Reds defence.

It was all academic after that. The ever-dangerous Lomax got substitute Matty Ashurst striding through a gap in a tiring Salford defence on 54 minutes and stand-off Lee Gaskell piled on the agony for the visitors when he gathered Matty Smith's chip kick and raced 70 metres for an opportunist try. Foster maintained his unerring accuracy with a fifth goal from as many attempts.

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