Salford Beat Rivals Liverpool Wolves

SALFORD opened up a five-point lead at the top of the National League (North) table after they overcame previously unbeaten Liverpool Wolves 35-16 in their latest match at Greenbank Sports Academy in Liverpool.

A hard-fought match was in prospect between the teams first and second in the league, not least because two young Wolves players moved to Salford in the summer.

But while Salford had a full-strength team, Liverpool had just two on the bench because of injuries and unavailabilities.

Nevertheless, the game started with great intensity, Salford playing a 5-1 aggressive defence and Liverpool Wolves choosing a slightly more conservative deep 6 nil defence.

The first 20 minutes showed moments of very good defensive handball. Both teams were holding each other with hard tough defences. Unfortunately, Liverpool ran out of steam as their lack of replacements took its toll.

Tiredness caused late tackles and several two-minute exclusions, which Salford punished and used to open up a 13-6 lead at the break.

The second half was all Salford as they stepped up several gears.

It was 11 minutes later when Liverpool scored their next goal, but in the meantime Salford had scored 10, effective killing the game as a contest and they went on to win 35-16.

Notable performances came from Salford's playmaker Ciaran Williams with 9 assists, while Stuart Latchford and Aden Woodall scored six goals apiece.

The best players for Liverpool Wolves were a never-stop-fighting Sean Feery and Stu Clark in goal who, with some fantastic saves, kept the goal difference in check.

In other action at Greenbank, Manchester maintained their unbeaten record with a 30-24 victory over Nottingham University with Georgiou top-scoring with nine goals.

University of Manchester secured their first victory of the season with a 21-20 win over Leeds Hornets, while Deva beat Liverpool Speke Garston 28-20.

* In the Southern Section, Bath were unlucky not to secure their first league win of the season over Oxford University on Sunday.

Level at 13-13 at half time, they were just edged out 29-32 by their rivals, who are second in the table.

Olympia battled to a narrow 21-19 victory over Ruislip Eagles, despite only having a bare seven players for the clash while the Eagles had 13.

Mohammed El Hawary scored nine for Olympia, while Toufik Haddadou added four.

And early league leaders London GD won 36-23 over Cambridge to maintain their top of the table position and give their points difference a major boost.