Teenage full-back Chris Ashton was hero and villain on his return for Wigan as the gloom at Salford deepened.

The 19-year-old Ashton, who is thought to be on his way to rugby union, was recalled to plug the gap caused by injury to Michael Withers and made the most of his opportunity by scoring one try and sending winger Mark Calderwood over for another.

He missed the last 10 minutes after being sin-binned for a "flop" in the tackle but the Warriors had by then secured their third win of the season.

Salford, fresh from a 10-try thrashing by Bradford, had their moments early on but finished a well beaten side and worryingly find themselves next to bottom of the table.

Salford improved their defence but generally lacked ideas in attack and suffered a major blow with the loss of inspirational captain Malcolm Alker in the first half with a knee injury, while second rower Mark Edmondson was forced off in the second half with a shoulder injury.

Wigan were the more creative side throughout but ruined the good work of stand-off Trent Barrett with a series of handling errors in a sloppy first half.

Great Britain second-rower Gareth Hock was the worst offender, knocking on three times in the first 22 minutes, but few players enhanced their reputations in a scrappy opening.

Centre David Vaealiki dropped Barrett's early pass with the line beckoning while Salford ought to have made more of a clean break by Alker.

The Reds scored their only first-half points through a 16th-minute penalty by John Wilshere, which cancelled out Richards' early score, but they went behind three minutes before the interval when Ashton pounced on Thomas Leuluai's kick which bounced awkwardly for Salford defender Luke Robinson.

Richards kicked his second goal to give his side a six-point lead and made it 10-2 two minutes into the second half when Salford prop Andy Coley was punished for a high tackle on Bryan Fletcher.

It was all Wigan in the third quarter, with props Fielden and Iafeta Paleaaesina leading the way, and it was no surprise when they went further ahead.

Skipper Sean O'Loughlin took a short ball from hooker Shane Millard to force his way over his side's second try on 53 minutes and the visitors struck again five minutes later, with winger Mark Calderwood finishing off the best move of the match.

Micky Higham (Wigan) and Luke Robinson (Salford) both had tries disallowed by the video referee before Richards kicked a third penalty and Barrett landed a drop to complete the visitors' scoring.

Salford gained some consolation when centre Kevin McGuinness went over for his side's only try two minutes from the end.