Relentless Hull FC poured more misery on Salford Red Devils in an 80-6 demolition job that laid bare the deepening crisis engulfing the club.
The Red Devils ran in 10 tries on their last visit to the MKM Stadium in a 58-4 triumph 11 months ago, but ongoing financial woes left them relying on a raft of young loanees just to fulfil Sunday’s (10 August) contest.
Following the departures of Chris Hankinson, Chris Hill, Jack Ormondroyd, and club captain Ryan Brierley, it was never going to be an easy affair; especially when playing a side fighting for a play-off spot.
And Hull were in no mood to be charitable and scored 14 tries, at one point threatening to eclipse their record 88-0 Challenge Cup triumph over Sheffield Eagles in March 2003.
Lewis Martin headlined with four tries, while Zak Hardaker had a dozen conversions, but the biggest cheer of a sunny afternoon went to Brad Dwyer barging over for a consolation with three minutes left.
A sparse but hardy travelling support sporadically broke out into chants of ‘you’re not fit to own the club’ in protest at Salford’s hierarchy, which was applauded on several occasions by Hull fans.
While Hull moved back above Wakefield and up into sixth in Betfred Super League, wiping out a big chunk of their inferior points difference in the process, Salford remain rooted to the foot of the table.
With Riley Lumb, Ciaran Nolan, Ben Littlewood, Harvey Makin, Taylor Kerr, and Dwyer making their debuts, Salford Red Devils were on a hiding to nothing, resembling a side put together at the last minute.
Hull had won only once at home in eight previous games this year and were beaten by lowly Huddersfield Giants last time out, but the Airlie Birds did not look back after Martin opened the scoring inside 80 seconds.
Martin, who bagged a treble against the Giants a fortnight ago, collected the ball on the left and bulldozed through opposite number Sam Hill and the covering Declan Murphy to touch down.
Martin then spotted a yawning gap in Salford’s middle before teeing up fellow wing Harvey Barron to score and Jed Cartwright leapt above two defenders to collect a high ball for a try after 15 minutes.
Hull worked the ball this way and that to score on opposing flanks through Barron and Martin, who with another hat-trick there for the taking unselfishly passed to Davy Litten to score after Cartwright had bagged his second.
Martin would not be denied his third as he took his tally of tries for the season to 26, a new club record in the modern era, before Cade Cust got in on the act as Hull went in at the break 50-0 ahead.
The one-way traffic continued after half-time as more sustained pressure saw Martin go over on the left, while Herman Ese’ese and Amir Bourouh also got on the scoreboard before the hour mark.
Hardaker then set up Litten with a long grubber then Tom Briscoe for his 100th try for Hull and split the posts for his 11th and 12th conversions, with nearly a quarter of an hour still remaining.
However, it was Salford Red Devils who had the final say as Dwyer barrelled over under the posts, with Lumb adding the extras, to great applause from both sets of supporters in the 11,242-strong crowd.
After the game, the two sides could be seen in a huddle – with both teams sharing respect for one another during this difficult time.
More information on the fixture can be found here.
Article was contributed by David Charlesworth, PA – and featured image taken via YouTube screenshot here.
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