Salford sink Cas
Salford Red Devils kept their slim chances of getting into the top eight alive after a hard fought 22-18 victory over the Castleford Tigers.
The match started with a beautifully observed silence to mark 100 years since the Battle of the Somme – the bloodiest battle of the First World War.
The Tigers suffered an early blow as Joel Monoghan was forced from the field with a suspected dislocated shoulde. Castleford also lost Mike McMeekan and Jake Webster in the second half.
However, they did take the lead after eight minutes through Webster after Luke Dorn put him through a gap. Webster powered through the defence to score.
Luke Gale added the conversion for a 6-0 lead.
It did not take the Red Devils long to respond as just five minutes later Gareth O’Brien attacked the line and went through a weak tackle attempt to score. He missed the subsequent conversion meaning they trailed by two points.
Then at the 20 minute mark, Salford took the lead as Michael Dobson took in a kick from Robert Lui for an easy grounding right by the posts.
O’Brien scored the conversion meaning their lead was 10-6.
But 10 minutes later Castleford retook the lead when Dorn’s clever offload found Webster again for the latter’s second try of the game. Gale scored the resulting conversion to put the Tigers in front 10-12.
Dorn then got in on the act himself as he danced his way through a huge gap in the Salford defence to score for the first try of the second half.
Gale added the conversion to extend the Tigers’ lead to eight as rain began to pound the Greater Manchester area.
It was important that Salford got the next try and they did through Mason Caton-Brown with his first try of the season after good ball movement stretched the defensive line, leaving the former London Broncos winger to cross in the corner.
O’Brien scored the conversion to reduce the deficit to two points again with 20 minutes to go – he then levelled the game 10 minutes later after a penalty for a high shot on Lui.
The former Warrington Wolves man won the game for the Red Devils after slotting home a long distance penalty after another high shot, this time on Dobson, and then another high shot right at full time meant O’Brien added another two points.
It was a huge result at the start of a huge week for the Red Devils as their appeal against their six point deduction for salary cap irregularities will be heard.