Salford City Reds 24 Wigan Warriors 50

It was hard not to have a smidgen of confidence before this one. The hope was of course that last week's win would be the confidence booster we needed that allowed the players to realise that they hadn't become bad overnight. Added to that nothing I'd seen of Wigan to this point had led me to believe that they were anything but a poor Wigan side & to be honest there wasn't much in this game to suggest otherwise. It's just that this is a truly shocking Salford side!

No real time for a pre-game beer so I head straight to the Shed in time to pick a decent spot. We got off to the worst-possible start after Wigan's opening kick-off struck the post & we didn't react quick-enough allowing Wigan to re-gather the ball. The ball was sent quickly out wide & Bailey went over inside 30 seconds, here we go again! The Reds came up with a good reaction though & Andy Coley (giving easily his best display of the season against the side he's been constantly linked with a move to), charged over to level things. Aussie star Trent Barrett was given far to much space to weave his magic & put Wigan back in front soon after before another Coley charge put us back on terms. Annoyingly, we again gave Barrett a gap to run through & restore his side's lead before a kind bounce allowed Buddha to re-gather a kick & put Littler in for a leveller. But true to form on the stroke of half-time we gifted Leuluai a try to give the visitors the half-time advantage.

The 2nd half was a mere capitulation I'm afraid to say as Hansen extended their lead soon after the re-start. From there it was a walk in the park for Noble's side as Barrett, Millard twice & Goulding eased over the line with only a solitary Moule effort offering any resistance. Again I felt compelled to leave the ground a couple of minutes early but as I made my way to the Tavern it was hard to miss the chorus of boos that greeted the final hooter & hard to disagree with the boo-boys. Pathetic.