Craig Weston scored a drop-goal three minutes from time to secure a narrow home win for Widnes over struggling Salford.

The victory maintains Widnes' hopes of finishing in the top six but leaves the Reds firmly rooted at the bottom of the table.

The two sides were locked together on 14-14 before Weston stole the points with his late winner.

It completed a turnaround that will leave Salford wondering where everything went wrong.

They led 12-0 at half-time and could have scored more.

David Highton put Salford ahead halfway through the first period, before Francis Maloney intercepted Steve Carter's pass to race more than half the length of the field to score after 28 minutes.

Steve Blakeley added a penalty in the 34th minute for a high tackle on Ian Watson to give Salford a healthy half-time advantage.

But Widnes staged a dramatic second-half recovery and grabbed their opening try in the 47th minute.

Adam Hughes intercepted Mike Wainwright's pass and Paul Devlin went over.

Hughes added the conversion and Widnes closed the gap to 12-10 when Chris Percival touched down from Stuart Spruce's kick.

Widnes went ahead for the first time on the hour when Steve McCurrie crashed over but Hughes missed his third goal from four attempts.

Salford were back on level terms in the 75th minute with a penalty from Blakeley for ball stealing to set up the dramatic finale.

Salford: Gibson, Reardon, Maloney, Hunte, Arnold, Blakeley, Watson, Baynes, Alker, P. Highton, Treacey, Wainwright, D. Highton. Replacements: Holroyd, Nicol, Coley, Shaw.

Referee: Ian Smith (Oldham)