Two sides on the up met at the A.J. Bell Stadium in Salford as the Red Devils, fresh from back to back wins over high-flying Castleford Tigers and Widnes Vikings, took on a Saint Helens also looking for their third consecutive win after great victories over Catalans Dragons and Warrington Wolves.

A win for the Red Devil's would lift them equal top of the league, a win of more than thirty points for Saints would see them up to fifth, leapfrogging the Red Devil's.

Junior Sau was missing for Salford after picking up a slight injury last week, but Kieron Cunningham had the luxury of choosing from a near fully fit squad.

Saints lost Theo Fages in the opening minute after a robust tackle saw him knocked unconscious but what ensued was twenty minutes of arm wrestling from two robust defences. On twenty-three Salford were awarded a penalty, and Michael Dobson broke the deadlock as he kicked the two points from thirty metres.

With the sides evenly matched it took an error in the form of an obstruction from Saints for the Red Devils to get the first try on thirty-five when Craig Kopczak was hit with a bullet pass at first receiver to crash over the line from five metres. Dobson added the extra two and Salford had an eight point lead at the interval.

Saints were keen to get back into the game and waited five minutes for Salford to re-emerge for the second half. But it was Salford who drew first blood with just two minutes on the clock when Kopczak and Mark Flanagan both made good metres before finding Dobson to go over. He added the extra two for 14-0.

On fifty Alex Walmsley threw Saints a lifeline when he carried three Red Devils defenders with him as he stretched out an arm to ground under the sticks. Mark Percival kicked the conversion for 14-6.

Despite a heroic Salford defensive effort, on sixty minutes the Saints got their secured no try when Ryan Morgan took a pinpoint Jonny Lomax pass and went down the left wing from twenty metres to dive over in the corner. Percival failed to add the extras.

A writhing Dobson earned himself a penalty on sixty-two when James Roby held him for too long in the tackle and the margin was back to six points at 16-10.

On seventy a 'rush of blood' moment from Robert Luí, raking out the ball to stop a twenty metre restart, saw the Salford scrum half sin-binned. But rather than cave in under the Saints pressure, on seventy-four a knock-on by Chris Welham, from Todd Carney grubber, saw the home side regain possession. Two passes later it was Michael Dobson who found the space to go over for his second of the night. He added the extras for 22-10.

On seventy-eight Jonny Lomax was the last man in an expansive passing move to dive over but from wide left Percival failed to convert and the two points were going to the Red Devil's.

It was the third win on the bounce for Salford and sees them level top of the table on competition points with Castleford, Hull and Leeds. The Saints were second best on the night and struggled to penetrate Salford's defensive effort. Luí's sin-binning could have spelled disaster but his team-mates redoubled their efforts to ensure the win. A great win for Salford, back to the drawing board for Saints.

Devils: O'Brien, Johnson, Welham, Jones, Carney, Luí (SB), Dobson (2T, 5G), Tasi, Tomkins, Mossop, Murdoch-Masila, Griffin, Flanagan. Subs: Kopczak (T), Wayne, Brinning, Carney.

Saints: Lomax (T), Owens, Morgan (T), Percival (G), Makinson, Fages, Smith, Walmsley (T), Roby, Douglas, Taia, McCarthy-Scarsbrook, Wilkin. Subs: Amor, Lee, Walker, Peyroux.

Referee: James Child.

Half-Time: 8-0.

Full-Time: 22-14.

Attendance: .