Salford City Reds 16 Wakefield Wildcats 12: Littler ends on a high as Wakefield miss out at Salford

Littler, captain for the day, went over for the key score with Sean Gleeson's late effort a mere consolation for the Wildcats.

All the points came in the second half of a mistake-littered contest between two clubs whose miserable seasons came to an uninspiring end.

Wakefield had to settle for 11th place after failing to notch the victory needed to climb above Bradford who finish 10th.

Yesterday's game marked the end of an era at the Willows with seven players heading out of the club. Malcolm Alker and Willie Talau are retiring with Karl Fitzpatrick, Littler, Jeremy Smith, Phil Leuluai and Luke Swain leaving.

Wakefield included Tevita Leo-Latu, who is joining Salford next season, and Gleeson who is also expected to be at the Reds in 2010.

Leo-Latu and Gleeson grabbed the Wakefield tries and it was a last hurrah too for Jason Demetriou as Wakefield aimed to end a run of five defeats.

Wakefield would have snatched the lead had Demetriou been able to gather Damien Blanch's tap back from Ben Jeffries's kick.

Marc Sneyd's 40-20 gave Salford the chance to threaten the Wakefield line and Steve Tyrer went over in the corner but the try was disallowed by referee Gareth Hewer for a forward pass.

Wakefield finally broke the deadlock after only 59 seconds of the second period when a Broughton error allowed Leo-Latu to scoop up the ball and notch his fifth try of the season, Jeffries converting.

But Salford hit back with smart work from Ratchford and Talau allowing Ashley Gibson to slip a pass for Tyrer to go over.

Tyrer's conversion attempt looked to drift between the posts but the touch judges ruled the kick had missed.

Salford went ahead for the first time when Ray Cashmere took a pass from Gareth Owen to bulldoze through a clutch of defenders and crash over under the posts with Tyrer adding the conversion to make it 10-6.

Littler's touchdown and Tyrer's conversion clinched victory for Salford. Gleeson went over two minutes from time but Salford held on.

Salford: Ratchford, Broughton, Gibson, Talau, Tyrer, Sneyd, M. Smith, Cashmere, J. Smith, Neal, Sibbit, Littler, Swain. Substitutes: Parker, Leuluai, Jewitt, Owen.

Wakefield: Blaymire, Blanch, Gleeson, Millard, Murphy, Jeffries, Obst, King, Leo-Latu, Moore, Ferguson, Demetriou, Morrison. Substitutes: Korkidas, Henderson, Gledhill, Rinaldi.

Referee: G Hewer (Whitehaven).