Hock Sent Off for Contact With Referee in Heavy Wigan Defeat

Wigan suffered a humiliating home defeat by Huddersfield last night and their forward Gareth Hock could be in even deeper trouble after being sent off for allegedly making contact with the referee.

The Warriors lost 34-4 after trailing 30-0 at half-time to a Huddersfield team who came into the game next to bottom of the Super League having failed to win an away game all season. It was a third consecutive defeat for Brian Noble's team and a second flop in front of their own supporters, after last Friday's 46-12 thrashing by St Helens.

Hock also became the second Wigan player to be dismissed in consecutive games after the dismissal of Michael McIlorum for a high tackle last week. The 24-year-old was shown the red card by Ian Smith midway through the second half after initially disputing his decision not to award a try, and then appearing to place a hand on his shoulder. He will appear at a disciplinary hearing on Tuesday.

A Huddersfield team including six former Wigan players were dominant. Two of their six tries came from one of those ex-Warriors, the Great Britain wing David Hodgson, with Paul Whatuira, Darrell Griffin, Jamahl Lolesi and Ryan Hudson scoring the others.

Asked what he thought of his team's performance, Wigan's coach, Brian Noble, replied: "Not a lot. It was very, very flat. I can understand the fans' frustrations and I can understand them booing because it looked like a lot of people weren't giving the kind of effort that is required."

Salford started the countdown to a future back in the Super League by emphasizing the gulf in class that already separates them from Leigh. There was a party atmosphere at The Willows after the City Reds were this week awarded one of the 14 licenses that guarantee Super League membership for three seasons and the players did their bit, winning 46-12 to move four points clear of Halifax at the top of National League One.

The success of Salford's application had been completely overshadowed by the controversy caused by the promotion of Wales's Celtic Crusaders ahead of heartland clubs such as Widnes and Leigh.

They finally received some publicity yesterday but not the sort their long-serving chairman, John Wilkinson, would have wanted, as it emerged that Red City Developments, the company formed to deliver the new stadium that was the key to their bid, had gone into administration.

However, both Salford and Peel Holdings, the developers who are the majority shareholders in Red City, said this was no more than a "technical issue" and that the stadium would be ready in early 2010. RFL sources said they had been kept in the loop and were not overly concerned about one of the 14 license-holders failing even to make it to next season's starting line.