 Rooney made the game safe for Wakefield |
Wakefield (16) 36
Tries: Atkins, MacGillivray, Henderson, Latu, Rooney
Goals: Rooney 8
Salford (14) 24
Tries: Finnigan, Adamson, Haggerty, Williams
Goals: Wilshere 4
Wakefield followed up victory over St Helens with a battling win over Salford to keep up the pressure on the top two.
Quick tries from Ryan Atkins and Duncan MacGillivary had put Wakefield 16-6 up but Luke Adamson touched down to reduce the half-time deficit to two points.
Kevin Henderson and Tevita Latu ran over to nose Wildcats ahead again only for Gareth Haggerty and Daley Williams to score and set up a tense finish.
Jamie Rooney made the win safe with a last-minute try and conversion.
The half-back had set Wakefield on their way with a couple of early penalties and his solid kicking saw him come away with 20 points.
Simon Finnigan scored the game's first try for Salford, during a sustained period of pressure from the City Reds.
Two tries in five minutes from Atkins and MacGilivray saw the pendulum swing Wakefield's way before Adamson's try and Jon Wilshere's conversion and penalty narrowed the gap.
Wakefield were back on the front foot after the break before two more Salford tries saw them close to within six points of the Wildcats.
Rooney popped up in the final seconds to earn the home side, who lost to Salford three times last season, their first win over the City Reds in 2007.
Wakefield boss John Kear:
"The fans are certainly getting their money's worth. Salford turned up to play and they took some beating.
"In the end, we deserved the victory from a really good game of rugby league. In Super League, you look to win your home games and, when you win away, they're bonus balls.
"We've achieved that in the first three games. We've made a reasonable start and we're not getting carried away. There're 24 rounds left.
"After we lost in round one at Hull KR, the doom and gloom bells were ringing. But it was only two competition points - and that's all it is today."
Salford coach Karl Harrison:
"Disappointing. Some of my players weren't at the races. The performance was not adequate for the standards we've set ourselves. "Certain things need saying and I'll be addressing them all in the morning first thing.
"We've trained well and it might just be a bad day at the office. Some of the players need to look at themselves, come into work on Monday and really buckle down.
"We gave some soft penalties away, our ball security was poor, our kick-chase was poor, carries were soft. If a fair few of your team doesn't perform at this level then you're going to get beat."
Wakefield: Blaymire, Fox, Demetriou, Atkins, Tadulala, Rooney, Jeffries, Watene, P. March, Moore, Elima, MacGillivray, Ferres.
Replacements: Henderson, Latu, Lima, Catic.
Salford: Hodgson, Williams, Littler, McGuinness, Wilshere, Dorn,
Robinson, Coley, Alker, Korkidas, Edmondson, Adamson, Finnigan.
Replacements: Haggerty, Jewitt, Halliwell, Brocklehurst.
Referee: I Smith (Oldham)
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