Salford 30-6 Wakefield: Red Devils reach Challenge Cup semi-finals

Salford 30-6 Wakefield: Match Stats

Salford tries: Lannon (7), Murdoch-Masila (12), Evalds (37), Johnson (43), Kopczak (49)
Goals: Dobson (7,12,22,37,49) 

Wakefield tries: Finn (72)
Goals: Finn (72) 

Match Report

Salford's revival continued as they reached the Ladbrokes Challenge Cup semi-finals for the first time in 19 years with an emphatic 30-6 victory over Wakefield.

The side second in Super League proved far too strong for their under-strength visitors at the AJ Bell Stadium, running in five tries in a commanding display.

Three touchdowns came in the first half with Ryan Lannon, Ben Murdoch-Masila and Niall Evalds all crossing before Greg Johnson and Craig Kopczak put the result beyond doubt.

Michael Dobson added the rest of the points with five goals while lacklustre Trinity could muster only a late consolation through Liam Finn.

Salford must now hope their on-field success starts to draw in greater crowds at a ground which they still do not need to open fully.

Those fans that did attend though were in good voice as they were treated to an excellent showing by their side, who dominated from the outset.

Their cause was aided by Wakefield who, without a number of key players through injury, were a shadow of the side that won in exhilarating fashion at the same venue a fortnight ago.

Stand-off Rob Lui was at the heart of a lot of Salford's creative play and he was involved in the two tries that saw the hosts establish a commanding early lead.

The first came after a kick to the posts which half-back partner Dobson fumbled but touched backwards for Lannon to pounce.

Lannon was inches short of adding a second soon after but Murdoch-Masila cruised in from a nice Lui reverse pass.

It was 25 minutes before Trinity - whose cause was not aided by losing Bill Tupou during the warm-up - enjoyed any serious possession, but even by then Dobson had added a penalty.

Evalds then made it 20-0 before half-time with a tricky, jinking run.

Wakefield needed to respond after the break but the game was taken away from them as the powerful Murdoch-Masila punched a hole in the defence and brilliantly flicked out a pass for Johnson to cross out wide.

Things got even worse for the visitors as Kopczak then barged his way over after Lui had again wrong-footed his opponents.

The pressure continued as Salford forced a drop-out and Kris Welham was held up over the line, but the hosts then began to ease off.

Wakefield did at least end on a positive note as Mason Caton-Brown burst clear and Finn went over for a try he converted.

Match Reaction

Salford coach Ian Watson: "We are on a good journey as a club. It's something that started last year. We ended up in the Million Pound game but we came through that adversity and it stood us in good stead.

"We've proved that 90 per cent of the time we are a really good team and if we can showcase that every week then we will become real contenders.

"It would be massive to reach the final. I couldn't even tell you when we last won major silverware.

"The support we've got is a great support but, yes, we want more numbers."

Wakefield coach Coach Chris Chester: "It was a tough one but take nothing away from Salford. I thought they could have scored more points than they did, and from minute one to minute 80 they totally dominated. We got beaten in every facet of the game.

"The injuries certainly don't help. We're down to 15 or 16 fit players. Ashley Gibson and Adam Walker probably shouldn't have played but I don't want to use that as an excuse. We were pretty poor."