Ruthless Hull put 14 tries past makeshift Salford side

Betfred Super League

Hull FC (50) 80

Tries: Martin 4, Barron 2, Cartwright 2, Litten 2, Cust, Ese’ese, Bourouh, Briscoe Goals: Hardaker 12

Salford (0) 6

Relentless Hull poured more misery on Salford as their makeshift, cobbled-together team were hammered 80-6.

The hosts scored six tries in 15 first-half minutes alone as they breezed to a 50-0 lead at the break, with Tom Briscoe notching his 100th try for the club in the second half.

The match was bordering on the farcical at times as Salford understandably looked like a team full of strangers who had no answer to the hosts, who ran in 14 tries in total – four of them from Lewis Martin.

The Red Devils have been hampered by a financial crisis which this week saw Ryan Brierley and Jack Ormondroyd become the 12th and 13th players to leave the club.

They signed seven players on loan this week alone, with five debutants in the matchday 17 and squad numbers going up to 63 as some players only met their team-mates on the bus drive to the stadium

A small band of fans who had made the thankless trip chanted “you’re not fit to run the club” at officials in the stand – with Hull fans applauding.

The home side could only beat the opposition in front of them and took less than two minutes to breakthrough as flying wing Martin scored in the left corner

Martin then put opposite wing Harvey Barron in to run on and score under the posts.

Jed Cartwright collected a clever kick from Will Pryce to add a third try inside 15 minutes before the clinical Barron went in again after quick hands put him away.

Salford looked done after 20 minutes, as Martin stepped inside to score his second and Cartwright galloped in untouched for a second of his own.

Davy Litten was the next to charge over as Salford’s possession was limited to kick-offs, and Martin completed his hat-trick before the half-hour mark and was followed over by Cade Cust.

Martin grabbed his fourth at the start of the second half to go top of the charts for this season with 20 tries, and Herman Ese’ese took advantage of Salford temporarily being down to 12 to barge over.

The video referee confirmed a try for former Salford man Amir Bourouh as he grounded the ball cleanly, and Litten ran on to a Cust kick to touch down the 13th try of the game.

The scoring did slow down before Zak Hardaker – who kicked 12 goals during the match – shrugged off a tackle to put Briscoe in for his landmark score, which puts him ninth in Super League’s all-time list with 174 in total.

Salford coach Paul Rowley told Sky Sports:

“It’s just sad to be honest, it was a tough watch, there is nothing fun about that.

“I represent the fans, it is a burden and a privilege in equal measures. We are here for them.

“It’s tough to see light at the minute, you just have to keep believing. The ownership group say there is light at the end of the tunnel.

“That is not my team, it is a bunch of loan players we have drafted in, they have bent the rules so we can fulfill fixtures. Some we met on the bus on the way here, it’s a rubbish situation.

“Everyone wants clarity on the situation, it is a slow death.”

Hull FC coach John Cartwright:

“It’s hard to know what to take out of the game, we were worried it was going to turn into a false game but we were ruthless in the first half.

“It is really sad the Salford situation, let’s just hope people are found accountable and it doesn’t happen again.

Hull FC: Pryce, Barron, Briscoe, Litten, Martin, Hardaker, Cust,

Ese’ese, Bourouh, Watts, Cartwright, Chamberlain, Asiata.

Interchanges: Aydin, Ashworth, Charles, Eseh.

Salford: Murphy, Lumb, Whitehead, Warren, S. Hill, Connell,

Nolan, Sangare, Yates, Lewis, Littlewood, Chan, Wilson.

Interchanges: Glover, Makin, Kerr, Dwyer