Wakefield Wildcats 32 Salford Red Devils 18: Defensive desire shown by prop Scruton typifies side says coach Chester

Scruton chased back to halt Michael Dobson when he had a clear run to the line and that was a key moment in Wildcats’ third win in nine days, following Easter victories over Huddersfield Giants and Leeds Rhinos.

Chester described his third win as coach as “tough, very tough” and he said: “We had a lot of defending to do in the second half, but it showed the character of the players when we’ve got a front-rower chasing back Michael Dobson to save a try. That’s what this club is all about, it’s all about desire and attitude and we had plenty of that.”

Winger Tom Johnstone continued his fine run of form with a hat-trick of tries, two coming from passes by young full-back Max Jowitt. Jowitt was selected ahead of Craig Hall, who had scored Wildcats’ last-gasp winning try against Leeds five days earlier.

“Tom is deceptive,” Chester said. “He is very strong when he carries the ball and he can finish a try as well. I have got to make sure I keep young Tom grounded, he is an exceptional talent and a pleasure to work with. He won us the game against Leeds and he has won us the game again with his try scoring.”

Of Jowitt, Chester said: “It proves the academy is working here. There’s a lot of good kids in the set-up here and Max is another example of the talent we are producing at Wakefield.

“I made a decision to play Max instead of Craig Hall, who didn’t do anything particularly wrong against Leeds. It was just one of those tough decisions I made and Max played particularly well.”

Wakefield had only three victories against top-flight opposition in the whole of 2015 and Chester added: “Winning become a habit. We have just got to continue the momentum and continue the work out on the training field and hopefully some more results will come along the way. We’ve got Wigan on Sunday which will be an extremely tough game, but there’s a lot of confidence in this group of players at the moment and we’re not scared of anybody.”