Salford 20-10 St Helens

Salford City Reds caused arguably the upset of the season by beating St Helens 20-10 at The Willows.

The shock defeat was Saints’ first in 17 away matches, but they remain top of the table.

Salford were the better team throughout, leading 16-0 at the half-time interval.

Stefan Ratchford opened the scoring by touching down Jeremy Smith’s gruvver kick, John Wilshere tagging on the conversion.

Ratchford also set up and scored the second, his kick bouncing off the post into the arms of Wilshere, the fullback sending Ratchford over the line before converting.

Darrell Goulding touched down after some smart Salford handling to give the home side their half-time advantage.

Saints got onto the scoresheet when Sean Long broke the line and snet Andy Dixon over, Kyle Eastmond converting, but a second try was not forthcoming.

Instead the Reds increased their lead with Mark Henry touching down a kick to the corner, Saints unable to capitalise on the binning of Jeremy Smith.

By the time Francis Meli crossed in the game’s closing stages it was too late for the visitors to salvage anything from the game.