THE writing on the wall of the Cowley gym repeats the words of the club’s most decorated modern era skipper Chris Joynt – Never write off the Saints.

But even the most ardent of fans must have thought this one was a hopeless task when Salford led 24-8 with just eight minutes to play.

But Justin Holbrook’s men dusted off the Houdini manual not used since the Warrington away game of 2005 to engineer three late tries and a Matty Smith drop goal to snatch a priceless two points with a 25-24 win.

Whether Saints deserved to take the spoils over the balance of 80 minutes is debatable, but the character they showed to pick themselves off the canvas was commendable after enduring a pummelling from the Red Devils pack, and being pulled apart by the brains trust of Todd Carney and Robert Lui.

Saints had once again started slowly, although they should have taken an early lead but Mark Percival bounced the ball over the line.

After falling behind to a Carney penalty, they hit the front on 16 minutes when Smith opted to take on the line, dummied inside and then found a chink in the Salford defensive armour to scamper through.

With defences on top, Saints were kept at arm’s length for the remainder of the half and resorted to testing out the opposing back three with the Smith high ball.

Salford’s big men began to make good yardage, and twice they marched the ball upfield with Saints unable to arrest that momentum, failing to match them for physicality and aggression.

They did, however, manage to defend their line, repelling a number of Red Devils’ repeat sets.

But having done all the hard work and leading 8-2 as the half time hooter sounded, Zeb Taia made a complete hash of Carney’s speculative punt through, managing only to palm it into the path of the rapidly advancing Niall Evalds who picked his pocket to touch down.

It was an absolute sickener, and Salford came out the more invigorated of the two sides after the interval with their dominance in the middle earning them quick play the balls against a back-pedaling Saints.

A couple of long passes later and Greg Johnson had put the visitors, seeking their first win on St Helens soil since 1980, in the driving seat.

They made that dominance tell when Lui forced his way past four Saints bodies on the line.

Lui was having a big impact on both sides of the ball, and when Regan Grace was given a rare pass down the flank the Australian half back just managed to get back to tap the speedster’s ankle.

After being forced to drop out three times three sets in a row, with Carney turning the screw with his kicking game, Saints finally conceded a try when Evalds was adjudged to have grounded another bobbling grubber.

The first sign that the towel was not being thrown in came immediately after the conversion, which gave the Red Devils a 16-point cushion, when they smartly regained the ball from the kick off.

It meant they coyuld at least play in the right half of the field.

Whether it was the urgency, desperation or the fact that having nothing to lose meant the shackles came off – and all of a sudden they came up with more attacking potency than had been displayed for the previous 70 minutes.

Jonny Lomax was a key factor in putting most of those plays on and it was his long, cut-out pass wide that sparked the move for the first of the late run of tries.

But credit, too, to Grace who cut inside, managing to flick the ball out of a two-man tackle for Percival to send James Roby storming through.

It probably looked like a consolation score, to make the scoreboard look a tad more respectable.

But Saints, all of a sudden, had the bit between their teeth and Theo Fages, playing against the club that nurtured him, stepped up to the plate with a long pass fired wide to Grace, who turned his back to Johnson before spinning around and dashing to the line.

Suddenly there was a crackle reverberating around the ground and that belief was suddenly there for all to see on the pitch.

With the clock ticking Fages and Lomax combined to send Percival on a dashing run. The England centre had the wherewithal to pop it back on a plate for Lomax, who had only the referee to beat.

The try provoked pandemonium on the terraces, while on the field Saints went for victory.

Smith’s first attampted drop goal flapped wide but just when it looked like it was going to end in a draw there was one more twist.

And how cruel it was for the visitors that Lui, who had enjoyed a fine game, came up with the errot. He dabbed the ball through in the dying seconds only for Louie Mcarthy-Scarsbrook to pick up and find Smith.

And after producing an off-colour display last week at Huddersfield, maybe understably given the week he had had with his wife giving birth to twins, Smith need to come up with something.

Smith belted it straight between the uprights to send the ground into raptures to make the away fans, who had given him such a verbal bashing, eat their words. 

It was hard to work out who felt most sick, the visitors or some of those home fans who drifted grumbling with five to play.

The two points are critical, and the finale will give Saints some self-belief, but there are still plenty of facets that need fixing.

But for the time being enjoy the bounce that this memorable seven minutes provided.

Saints: Lomax; Swift, Makinson, Percival, Grace; Fages, Smith; Walmsley, Roby, Amor, Taia, Wilkin, Knowles. Subs: McCarthy-Scarsbrook, Douglas, Thompson, Lee.

Salford: Evalds; Bibby, Sa'u, Welham, Johnson; Lui, Carney; Kopczak, L. Tomkins, Tasi, Murdoch-Masila, Lannon, Flanagan. Subs: Jones, Hauraki, Brinning, Hasson.