Hunte keeps Salford alive

Warrington 2 Salford

Salford's Super League life goes on for at least another week after two tries from the former Warrington player Alan Hunte, the second of them a length-of-the-field effort, took them above Wakefield at the foot of the table.

Whatever happens when Wakefield go to Halifax on Sunday, the battle between them to avoid the drop will now go right to the wire of the regular season.

It was desperation stakes for Salford last night with the vital question being how Warrington would react to their own deliverance from the threat of relegation. Teams in their situation can ease off or suddenly discover the freedom to play a quality of rugby that has eluded them all season. All the signs at Wilderspool were that it would be the former.

The opening stages showed Salford, unsurprisingly, as much as the hungrier side. Their pressure forced a series of drop-outs, but the nearest they came to a try was when Hunte knocked on with the corner open.

The wingman did much better after 15 minutes, scooping up a difficult pass from Steve Blakeley and managing to squeeze inside the corner flag despite a two-man tackle.

Blakeley kicked the goal from the touchline, which looked an even better effort when Lee Briers missed two much easier penalties for Warrington as Salford invited them back into the game.

Briers at last landed one but Salford strengthened their grip on the game just after the half hour when Mike Wainwright got his pass out of the tackle and Jason Nicol ran purposefully to beat the cover and touch down, with Blakeley this time converting from the opposite side of the field.

Darren Treacy was denied a try on the hour because of Hunte's knock on but the former Great Britain winger ensured that the relegation drama will go to the bitter end when he took Briers' kick on his own line and showed that he still has enough of his old speed to go a hundred metres for the clinching try.

Greg Ebrill underlined Salford's greater desire with their fourth try in the closing stages. Their biggest worry now might be that Wakefield's opponents next weekend are Warrington.

Warrington: O'Reilly, Smyth, Alstead, Westwood, Appo, Briers, N Wood, Fozzard, Clarke, Hilton, Guisset, P Wood, Burns. Substitutes used: Penny, Sturm, Stevens, Noone.

Salford: Gibson, Reardon, Maloney, Nicol, Hunte, Blakeley, Watson, Baynes, Alker, P Highton, Treacy, Wainwright, D Highton. Substitutes used: Broadbent, Shaw, Coley, Ebrill.

Referee: R Connolly (Wigan).

* Leeds clinched their place in the Super League play-offs last night by comingfrom behind dramatically to beat London Broncos 28-26 at Headingley, a Danny McGuire drop goal securing victory with two minutes to go. In the other game, St Helens moved to the top of the table by crushing Hull 64-10.