Salford produced a heroic defensive effort to defeat St Helens 22-14 at the AJ Bell Stadium, securing a third straight win to climb to third in the Super League.

Skipper Michael Dobson scored two tries and booted four goals to ease his side to a fifth win from eight matches and end St Helens’ revival.

Leading 14-0 early in the second half, the Red Devils were rocked after Saints hit back with two tries in eight minutes but regrouped to clinch the victory despite finishing the game with 12 men.

With five-eighth Robert Lui probing effectively, motivated perhaps by the presence of Todd Carney on the bench, the Red Devils caused an increasing amount of problems for the visitors.

Carney came on after 25 minutes when the home side lost winger Greg Johnson with a head injury, with Lui moved out to centre with telling effect.

It was no surprise when the Red Devils eventually scored the first try, substitute prop Craig Kopczak celebrating his new three-year contract by crashing over for his first score of the season.

Dobson’s conversion made it 8-0 and he added a second try within three minutes of the restart, finishing off a storming break from Kopczak.

St Helens coach Keiron Cunningham switched Jonny Lomax to five-eighth at halftime, but it was the brute force of prop Alex Walmsley that got his side back into the game as he barged over from close range on 51 minutes.

Saints skipper Jon Wilkin and Walmsley were then both held up over the line before Lomax’s cut-out pass sent Ryan Morgan over in the corner just before the hour mark.

The home side finished the game with 12 men after Lui was sin-binned for preventing a quick restart, but Dobson made sure of the points by capitalising on a handling error from Morgan to grab his second try.