SAINTS sealed an incident-packed Super League clash with Salford Red Devils in golden-point extra time.

Moses Mbye potted the winning drop goal two hours and five minutes after the game had kicked off to seal back-to-back successes for Paul Wellens’ men.

A dramatic conclusion was fitting to a battle of attrition that had everything - four yellow cards, discounted tries, team shuffling through injuries and questionable video referee decisions.

The 17-16 win, secured with only 31 seconds of added time remaining, had a chaotic last 17 minutes including Saints being down to 11 men against Salford's 12 for a period.

Saints got their noses in front when Tommy Makinson ducked under three attempted tackles to cross wide out after seven minutes, though Mark Percival was unable to convert.

A Moses Mbye break looked promising but when Daryl Clarke had his shirt tugged attempting to get in support, the move came to nothing.

Joe Shorrocks was sent to the sin-bin though for his actions on the Saints hooker, leaving Salford with 12 men for 10 minutes.

Saints looked to take advantage with a kick across field and Tee Ritson thought he had made it count with a try.

He competed in the air with opposite winger Ethan Ryan, who appeared to knock on before Ritson scooped up the loose ball to touch down, but video referee Jack Smith said it was the Saints man who fumbled forward.

Saints did not go close again with a man advantage and actually had their four-point lead halved when Marc Sneyd booted a penalty goal from 18 metres following Curtis Sironen being adjudged to have committed a late challenge.

Alex Walmsley arrived off the bench for his first appearance in four months, just as Shorrocks returned from the bin.

And it was Walmsley who was penalised for interference as Sneyd kicked his second penalty to level the scores after 32 minutes.

Something you do not see very often is a player vomiting on the field but that was the case after Salford prop Loghan Lewis was left floored on the field by the ferocity of a crunching James Bell tackle a minute into the second half.

Soon after Lewis left the field Saints were back in front when Sironen crashed on to an Mbye pass, stayed upright in the tackle and handed over to Waqa Blake to cross unopposed.

Percival banged over the conversion from the touchline for 10-4.

Controversy reigned over Chris Hankinson touching down Salford’s opening try after 50 minutes.

Video ref Smith ruled his grounding of the ball with his fingertips was sound as he beat Blake to the touch but replays looked far from conclusive.

However, the try stood, Sneyd added the extras and it was 10-10 with all to play for.

Blake followed up a Lewis Dodd high kick which was allowed to bounce by the Salford defence, giving the Saints centre time to win the scramble for possession and send Makinson over but video referee Smith cancelled the effort out for offside.

Saints then suffered a blow when Dodd left the field with an arm injury, leaving back rower Bell to provide emergency cover at scrum-half.

Moments later Jake Burns, shortly after replacing Clark, caught Salford out by going the opposite way to expectations from dummy half and feeding Joe Batchelor to cross for the easiest try he will ever score, with Percival converting to restore Saints’ six-point lead with 18 minutes remaining.

Morgan Knowles was sent to the sin bin for a high tackle on a dipping Mellor with 12 minutes to go.

Less than 30 seconds later Batchelor also received a yellow card for a tackle off the ball, joined by Salford’s Ollie Partington for his part in the follow-up skirmish.

So it was 11 against 12, with Saints having to work overtime to hang on for the remaining 11 minutes.

Helped by a repeat set while camped on Saints' line, Nene Macdonald danced his way through three attempted tackles to touch down. Sneyd made no mistake with his boot to leave the game at 16-16.

Ritson tracked back to pull off a try-saving tackle on Macdonald and when Salford swung the ball to the other flank on the next tackle there was Mbye to bundle Deon Cross into touch when a try in the corner looked certain.

Back to 13-a-side for the final two minutes, an Mbye drop-goal attempt sailed wide with 12 seconds left on the clock.

With the amount of stoppages in the second half especially, it was 10pm - two hours after kick-off - by the time the additional five minutes got underway.

It was set for set in the golden-point period and a magical kick return from Harry Robertson was the spark to set Saints up for the winner.

Walmsley twice, Makinson and Bell stuck the ball up their jumper down the middle to get in range for another drop-goal attempt.

And from 28 metres out Mbye hit the mark with a low-gravity attempt that somehow carried the distance and secured for Saints a first home win since May.

 * Apologies to our readers for any inconvenience caused by cancelling our live blog for this game. WiFi issues meant we had to discontinue the service after kick-off.