Whisper it , but Salford are starting to resemble genuine play-off contenders after cruising to a resounding 36-8 win over Widnes that lifted them to fourth place in Super League . Booed from the field after their previous Thursday night television appearance resulted in a 52-6 thrashing by St Helens , the Red Devils received a standing ovation this time after running in seven tries against the team that beat them three times in 2014 . Close-season signings Cory Paterson , Scott Taylor , Liam Hood and Carl Forster all made a big impact as Marwan Koukash 's hefty investment finally showed signs of starting to pay off . Salford Red Devils ' Lama Tasi ( right ) is congratulated by his team-mates after scoring a try against Widnes . Weller Hauraki goes over for a try as Salford record a comfortable Super League victory on Thursday night . The Vikings , who were without seven first-team regulars through injury , were simply no match for their classy hosts and they quickly found themselves 16-0 down . Rangi Chase 's clever kick produced a fourth-minute try for winger Ben Jones-Bishop - his fifth in as many games for the Red Devils - and second-rower Weller Hauraki touched down Michael Dobson 's punt four minutes later . Josh Griffin converted both to make it 12-0 inside 12 minutes and it got even better for the home side when a break from inside his own half by substitute hooker Hood got Dobson haring for the line . Widnes centre Stefan Marsh got back to haul Dobson down just short of the line but he was sin-binned for holding on and Salford immediately made use of the extra man , with winger Greg Johnson collecting Chase 's cut-out pass to score his side 's third try . Widnes duo Ben Kavanagh ( left ) and Manese Mauokafoa attempt to tackle Salford 's Josh Griffin . Close-season signing Scott Taylor ( right ) celebrates after scoring his first try for Salford Red Devils . The Vikings were not as bad as the 16-0 score suggested , however , and they struck back seven minutes before the break when winger Paddy Flynn accepted Rhys Hanbury 's pass and wrong-footed full-back Kevin Locke to touch down . Jack Owens kicked the conversion and added a penalty on the stroke of half-time to cut the Red Devils ' lead to eight points . Salford thought they had scored again four minutes into the second half when centre Mason Caton-Brown got on the end of Chase 's kick but his try was disallowed following closer inspection by the video referee . However , it was all Salford in the third quarter and , producing some of their best rugby of the season , they seized control of the game with two further tries in an ultimately decisive five-minute spell . Greg Johnson scores Salford 's third try of the night after collecting a pass from Rangi Chase . Prop Lama Tasi powered his way over from Chase 's inside pass before second-rower Paterson jumped into dummy half to get Griffin over at the corner as the Red Devils stretched their lead to 26-8 . Widnes ' injury problems worsened when Flynn hobbled off after appearing to pull a hamstring in full flight and they conceded two more tries in the final quarter . Paterson collected Dobson 's high kick to touch down and former Wigan prop Taylor proved unstoppable from 10 metres out as he registered his first try for the club .
Salford continued their bid for a play-off spot with a comfortable victory . Greg Johnson , Weller Hauraki and Ben Jones-Bishop scored first-half tries . Result leaves Red Devils fourth in Super League table after seven games .