Sneyd’s drop goal for Salford ensures Wakefield’s winless start continues

Good teams find a way to win games when they are not at their best but the worry for Wakefield is that, even with the new Super League season barely a month old, they are already finding ways to lose games they could easily win.

Their first victory of 2023 felt tantalisingly within reach on several occasions here. With Salford visibly off-colour and some way from the form which propelled them to within a game of the Grand Final last season, this was a match that felt there for the taking for Wakefield.

Unfortunately, it ended up with a result and an outcome that is starting to feel painfully familiar for Trinity supporters, even this early in the season.

When Marc Sneyd kicked Salford ahead by a point in the final six minutes, you felt that chance had passed for Trinity. Yet they regrouped, recomposed themselves and forced golden-point extra time through the boot of their own mercurial scrum-half Mason Lino. They even had a chance to win the game in extra time but just a few minutes later, Sneyd struck with the boot again and this time it was decisive.

It all means that after five rounds, only one team is yet to win: Wakefield. Their 25-year stay in Super League perhaps feels more under threat than ever given Leigh’s early success. There is still a long way to go, but the trap door is ajar – results such as this only reinforce that feeling. A win of any kind, be it scrappy or sensational, is starting to become needed, rather than welcome.

“We’re confident if we can carry on what we’re doing, some luck is around the corner,” their defiant coach, Mark Applegarth, said. “It stings a bit this one, though. I can’t knock any of their effort but we’ve come up with a mistake in extra time and a kicker like Sneyd is always going