Ian Rigg reports from Park Lane

Competition favourites Salford City Reds made it three wins from three as they powered away in the second half to gain a comfortable win in the Manchester derby against the Lions.

The Lions had the first attack of the game when Gary Sykes was put in a good position by Darren Gibson in the fourth minute but he lost control of the ball as he tried to offload to Andy Saywell.

The Reds fought back and they too had a chance thwarted when Barry Hamilton put in a great tackle on Paul White as he went for the corner.

The visitors took the lead in the tenth minute when Jordan Turner burst two tackles to race fifty metres to score under the posts and John Wilshire added the simple conversion

It got even better for Salford three minutes later when a good passing movement saw Stuart Littler send White over at the right-hand corner for an unconverted try.

The Reds then seemed to have well and truly got into the game and both Karl Fitzpatrick and Littler both had chances before Stephen Nash had one cancelled out by the referee for losing the ball as he tried to touchdown.

Ian Sibbitt almost scored on thirty-three minutes but for an excellent tackle by Neil Rigby.

The Lions first try came five minutes from the break when Liam McGovern and Craig Ashall both combined down the right to put Saywell over in the corner but McGovern’s conversion attempt just fell short.

Salford hit-back virtually from the restart when more pressure on the Lions line saw Fitzpatrick dummy his way over by the posts and Wilshire converted.

Fitzpatrick also added a penalty goal in the dying seconds of the half when the Lions were caught offside in front of their own posts.

Swinton made a great start to the second half and within five minutes of the restart McGovern kicked for the right corner and Saywell won the foot race with Fitzpatrick to score his second try in the corner.

This seemed to spark the Reds attack again and Turner added his second try six minutes later after a good break by Fitzpatrick but Wilshire could not convert.

From the restart they again put pressure on the Lions line and some good passing saw Sibbitt combine with Stefan Ratchford to send Turner over again to complete his hat-trick and Ratchford this time added the extras.

Four minutes later Ratchford himself side stepped the Lions defence to race in by the posts and he also added his own conversion.

The Reds pressure was now constantly on the Lions line and Fitzpatrick added his second in the sixty-first minute when a huge overlap on the left was exploited, though Ratchford this time missed the conversion.

The impressive Phillip Leuluai was next to score when he took two Lions defenders over the try line with him and again Ratchford added the goal points.

Swinton had a chance with ten minutes left when Martin Moana put a kick for the corner for Hamilton to chase but Fitzpatrick was on hand to knock the ball dead in goal.

The final try came four minutes later when Ratchford kicked for the left corner and Matt Gardner was on hand to finish the scoring.