 Trent Barrett was the star of the show at the JJB Stadium |
Wigan: (6) 40
Tries: Barrett, Calderwood (2), Vaealiki, Paleaaesina, Bailey, O'Loughlin
Goals: Richards 6
Salford: (10) 16
Tries: Fitzpatrick, Highton, McGuinness
Goals: Wilshere 2
Salford's slim hopes of avoiding relegation lay in ruins after a devastating 20-minute five-try blitz by Wigan at the JJB Stadium. Two tries from Mark Calderwood, David Vaealiki, Iafeta Paleaaesina, Phil Bailey, Sean O'Loughlin and Trent Barrett sealed the points for Wigan.
Salford had gone into the interval 10-6 up after first-half tries from Karl Fitzpatrick and Paul Highton.
The loss means Hull KR need to win one of their final three games to stay up.
The game was marred by a first-half brawl when Liam Colbon was tackled behind his own line for a Wigan drop out.
Referee Ashley Klein produced yellow cards for Wigan pair Vaealiki and Paleaaesina, along with Salford's Stuart Littler.
 | 606: DEBATE |
Both sides were back to full strength four minutes after the interval and Wigan immediately took advantage with scores from Calderwood and Vaealiki.
Salford soon hit back through a fantastic solo try from Kevin McGuinness, with Luke Wilshere reducing the deficit to two points.
However the class of Barrett took the game beyond the visitors when he set up Paleaaesina with a 40/20 before kicking through for Phil Bailey to touch down on 63 minutes.
Captain Sean O'Loughlin added another four points minutes later before Calderwood scored his second late in the game.
Pat Richards added 12 points with the boot.
Wigan coach Brian Noble: "I was pleased with the effort in the second half tonight. Trent Barrett was big again for us but the whole team in the second half did what we've been practising all week.
"It's going to go down to the last game for a lot of teams, so all we can do is take that second-half performance to Hull KR next week."
Salford coach Shaun McRae: "We need Hull KR to get beat by Hull FC. But my old club can do us a favour.
"We've shown in 80 minutes against St Helens and in 40 minutes tonight that we've got wins in us - but if Hull KR win on the weekend it's all over.
"We'll worry about that after the result on Sunday, but we've got two games left and four points to play for.
"But we are getting down to ifs and buts at the moment.
"I was very happy with the first half, I thought we played some really good football. We defended well, ran some good plays, asked them plenty of questions, and deserved to be in front at half-time.
"Unfortunately, in the second half I can't give a lot of credit to our players."
Wigan: Richards, Calderwood, Bailey, Vaealiki, Colbon, Barrett, Leuluai, Fielden, Millard, Paleaaesina, Hansen, Fletcher, O'Loughlin.
Replacements: Higham, O'Carroll, Goulding, Hill.
Salford: Fitzpatrick, Hodgson, McGuinness, Moule, Wilshere, Ratchford, Robinson, Leuluai, Alker, Korkidas, Coley, Sibbit, Finnigan.
Replacements: Dorn, Gower, Highton, Littler.
Referee: A Klein (London)
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