Wigan are into the Challenge Cup final after a pulsating 27-14 semi-final victory over Salford at the Halliwell Jones Stadium.

Wigan dominated in the early stages and, after having two tries rightly chalked off inside five minutes, they opened the scoring when Oliver Gildart went over after getting on the end of a great pass by George Williams.

The latter then extended the lead to 8-0 when slotting over a penalty before Willie Isa crossed the white line to put the Warriors, who last won the Challenge Cup in 2013, 12-0 ahead.

However, Salford battled back magnificently in the rest of the half and they went in at the break 14-12 up after tries from Greg Johnson and Tyrone McCarthy, and a Michael Dobson penalty.

The fierce contest continued after the restart and, after Williams nailed a kick over to level the scores, Wigan re-took the lead when Michael McIlorum got on the end of a superb kick through from Joe Burgess.

Sam Tomkins' drop-goal gave the Warriors a 21-14 lead before Gildart made sure of the victory right on the stroke of full-time when finishing off a move that started from the back of a scrum.

It was a valiant effort from the Red Devils but it is Wigan who will be heading to Wembley to take on defending champions Hull FC, who beat Leeds Rhinos 43-24 in Saturday's semi-final.