Lam tears Salford apart with hat-trick of tries

Salford 24 Wigan 46

Salford remain rooted to the bottom of the Tetley's Super League despite competing with Wigan for an hour yesterday. But four tries in 13 minutes won the match for a jaded Warriors outfit for whom Adrian Lam was outstanding.

There will be an announcement this week from Wigan about the scrum-half's future and it is likely that he will stay. In the continued absence of a number of quality players, his contribution was immense. He scored a hat-trick of tries and was at the heart of everything, and Salford's coach Karl Harrison said: "Adrian Lam today was a different class. He was certainly the difference between the teams."

The visitors were feeling the effects of their midweek victory over St Helens and good work by Salford's forwards brought early rewards. When Jamie Ainscough made a mess of securing Graham Holroyd's kick to the line Alan Hunte nipped in to score and Holroyd converted. But Wigan hit back with tries from Julian O'Neill and Lam, with the stand-off converting the latter to give his side the lead.

When Lam sent Stephen Wild galloping 35 metres to the line to give O'Neill a simple conversion it looked like the beginning of the end for the home side, but just before half-time a wonderful 60-metre run by Danny Arnold enabled Holroyd to put Andy Coley over and Holroyd's conversion made it 16-12 at the interval.

O'Neill stretched Warriors' lead with a penalty early in the second half and Brian Carney gave them a 10-point lead with a try after Ainscough's break.

Salford hit back with Steve Blakeley finishing off a good run by Paul Highton and Holroyd adding the goal. But Warriors then ran in tries through Lam, Danny Tickle and Mark Smith, while Francis Maloney got a late consolation try for the Reds.

Harrison remains convinced his side can avoid the drop. "At the moment I don't think we're getting the rub of the green. There's a lot of positives to be taken out of the game. What we mustn't do is start panicking."

Salford City Reds: Gibson; Hunte, Maloney, Broadbent, Arnold; Holroyd, Blakeley; Baynes, Alker, Highton, Ebrill, Treacy, Wainwright. Subs: Watson, Reardon, Coley, Corvo.

Wigan Warriors: Briscoe; Carney, Connolly, Hodgson, Ainscough; O'Neill, Lam; O'Connor, Newton, Howard, Tickle, Cassidy, Wild. Subs: Bibey, Smith, Jones, Robinson.

Referee: I Smith (Oldham).