Super League: London Broncos 28-58 Salford Red Devils - Niall Evalds scores hat-trick in Salford win

Niall Evalds' hat-trick helped Salford keep their Super League play-off hopes alive by thrashing London Broncos.

The Red Devils raced into a 36-6 half-time lead through two Krisnan Inu tries and scores for Mark Flanagan, Josh Jones, Evalds and Tui Lolohea.

Evalds ran in two more after the break, while Kris Welham and Jackson Hastings also went over.

Rhys Williams, Luke Yates, Matty Fleming, Sadiq Adebiyi and Rob Butler crossed for the well-beaten Broncos.

Salford's victory sees them climb above Castleford, who were beaten in golden-point extra time by Hull KR, and into sixth in the table on points difference, two points behind both Wigan and Catalans Dragons, with the top five all qualifying for the play-offs.

Rovers' dramatic win did the Broncos, who remain bottom of the table, few favours in their bid to avoid relegation back to the Championship, although they remain only two points behind each of the four sides directly above them.

However, Danny Ward's side, who had beaten leaders St Helens for the second time this season in their previous game, were never in this contest as Inu, Flanagan and Jones all crossed for the first three of Salford's 10 tries before Williams replied with a 90m interception score.

Evalds dived on to a kick to extend Salford's lead and the result was beyond doubt early in the second half as the Red Devils ran in four more tries without reply, including a second for Evalds when Hastings sent him through, to extend their lead to 48-6.

London added some respectability to the score late on but there was still time for Super League's top try-scorer this season Evalds to complete his hat-trick with his side's final try and his 21st of the season.

Salford head coach Ian Watson: "Every game is a big game for us now, especially coming towards the back end when we want to make sure we can give ourselves an opportunity to get in the play-offs as well, so that was a big result for us.

"Teams have come here this year and been turned over. We didn't want to be one of the teams that came here and got beat so we knew we had to turn up with the right kind of attitude and the right kind of effort in the right areas.

"We were disappointed as a team actually conceding the 28 points we conceded because if we do want to be a genuine play-off team, we can't be letting those soft tries in at the back end of games."

London Broncos head coach Danny Ward: "It was pretty poor from us from the majority of the 17 which was disappointing. Defensively we just weren't there and we got dominated by a good Salford side.

"But we just let them do what they want and let them play their tempo, so we weren't at the races which makes it hard to put a reason why. We prepared them well, had two weeks to focus on them and we just didn't come out of the blocks with any intensity.

"To score 28 points at home you expect to win the game, but when your defence is that poor, you're not going to stand a chance. We've got to iron out the areas we weren't great in and then be better next week.

"We're not worrying about the table and where we're at, just take it one game at a time and onto Castleford next week where we'll have to be a hell of a lot better than we were today."

London Broncos: Walker, Dixon, Fleming, Kear, Williams, Abdull, Lamb, Krasniqi, Cunningham, Butler, Pitts, Adebiyi, Yates.

Interchanges: Battye, Richards, Fozard, Mason.

Salford: Evalds, Olpherts, Welham, Bibby, Inij, Lolohea, Hastings, Walker, Tomkins, Dudson, Jones, McCarthy, Flanagan.

Interchanges: Mossop, Lussick, Burke, J. Johnson.

Referee: Liam Moore (RFL)