Warrington Wolves...14

Salford City Reds...39

By MIKE PARSONS

THE 25-0 score in the second half of Sunday's Super League game tells the story.

Warrington Wolves did little right after the interval and fell to an embarrassing defeat against a side expected to finish in the lower reaches of the league this year.

It is clear the Wolves have problems when, in comparison, a low profile team like Salford appears to have more pace, power and ingenuity within its ranks.

With this terrible result, and the previous home performances against Hull FC and Villeneuve, the Wolves are continuing to make life harder for themselves as opposition teams are not going to be fearful of the prospect of playing at Wilderspool.

The Wolves do not seem to be learning from their mistakes.

Handling, lack of support play and conceding needless penalties continued to be atrocious on Sunday.

Taking wrong options in attack, a poor kicking game and failing to make tackles count added up to a wealth of problems for coach Darryl Van de Velde to put right this week on returning from visiting his poorly mother in Australia.

But the most disappointing factor against Salford was that, in the absence of skipper Allan Langer, not one player took command at the various points in which the Wolves could have but failed to take control of the game.

There are vastly experienced players in the Wolves ranks but none of them stamped their authority and influence when it was needed.

Warrington held 10-4 and 14-8 leads in the first period as they threatened to pull away but try chances were wasted, penalty shots at goal were not taken and Salford were given a hand in surviving and fighting back.

Warrington's half back problems are not going away. Langer's fitness test failure on an ankle injury 24 hours before kick-off was a blow and the scrum half and stand off partnership between Steve Georgallis and Lee Briers became the third combination used already this campaign.

Briers' opportunity in the key play-making roll of stand off was deserved but it turned out to be his worst game of the season so far, possibly due to trying too hard as a result of not having support around him.

Both he and Georgallis tried hard but were mainly ineffective after a first half in which they combined to set up two tries.

They rarely provided satisfactory service to the three-quarters. Centre Toa Kohe-Love, who scored two tries in the first half on return from his suspension, did not get a sniff of possession after the break and what a waste of a talented strike player that was.

There was too much one-man rugby and their play was often predictable but when they did fancy their chances of giving the ball some air more often than not the ball was dropped before it reached the anticipated target.

In general the second half was a non-event for the Wolves.

But Warrington have also been slow starters over the past three games. A try was conceded in the opening minute against Hull the previous week and within four minutes on Sunday.

Winger Martin Offiah was allowed to run sideways to create a two-on-one overlap and send opposite winger Nick Pinkney flying home from his own 30m line.

Warrington did respond quickly after Alan Hunte's 40m dash to clear his own danger area. A penalty was won and the ball was flashed wide by Georgallis and Briers for Kohe-Love to burst through a hole and touch down. Smyth, given the goal-kicking role ahead of Briers, banged over the extras.

After a spell of pressure on Warrington's own line Kohe-Love intercepted a Goulding pass and he sped 90m to put the Wolves 10-4 ahead.

It was at this point that full back Lee Penny left the field with a broken thumb and a reshuffle saw substitute Dave Kidwell take up the wing berth with Hunte switching to full back.

Back rower Paul Noone broke clear off a superb Tawera Nikau pass but Noone's feed to put Hunte over the whitewash was forward.

Warrington's increasing grip was lost when Briers kicked straight into touch on a last tackle and a penalty was then conceded for off side. It took Salford up to the Wolves try line where acting half back Malcolm Alker's 15m pass found Offiah hugging the touchline with enough room to beat Rob Smyth into the corner.

Four minutes later Warrington ran the ball on a last tackle with superb handling between Georgallis, Briers and Kohe-Love helping Smyth to get his own back on Offiah and touch down in the corner for a 14-8 lead.

Goulding's kick beat Smyth for pace for a Salford 40-20 and in the second tackle after the scrum Ian Knott missed his man as Darren Brown off-loaded to put Gary Broadbent between the posts for a simple six points that levelled matters. Knott was substituted straight away.

Four minutes into the second half Kidwell attempted to intercept a long Graham Holroyd pass and missed. Speedy Pinkney flew down the right flank and handed on to ex-Wire star Francis Maloney to complete the 80m move. Goulding converted.

Maloney kicked ahead and scored after Georgallis and Noone made a mess of possession on the half way line. Goulding again booted over the bonus points.

The Wolves' lack of respect for ball security was growing and Holroyd took advantage as he popped over a drop goal to open up a 13-point gap.

For the second time in a row Andrew Gee, skipper for the day, lost the ball and was then penalised as he showed his frustration by pushing his former Brisbane teammate Michael Hancock.

Salford's response was clinical as Brown off-loaded out of a poor attempted tackle for Alker to skip over for a six-pointer.

At this point Gee-Gee was replaced by Martin Masella and a few moments later Wolves substitute Jerome Guisset almost brought some Warrington cheer but was held on his back over the try line by full back Broadbent.

At last the Wolves put pressure on the Salford line but after a third attacking set of six tackles a Nikau pass was intercepted by Pinkney who raced 90m unopposed to touch down. Goulding's fifth conversion rattled up his 2,000th career point.

The Warrington fans had lost their patience by now and were taunting their own players by chanting 'You're not fit to wear the shirt.'

At the end of the game the Wolves players declined the opportunity to go down to the Fletcher End and acknowledge the fans.

It was a sour end to a miserable day and things can surely only get better!