| Salford (6) 14 |
| Tries: Croft, Wright Goals: Sneyd 3 |
| Castleford (6) 6 |
| Tries: Eden Goals: Widdop |
Salford Red Devils had to graft to overcome a dogged Castleford Tigers in an intense, low-scoring Super League match on home turf.
Only a late Brodie Croft try ensured the hosts were all square at the end of a first half that the Tigers dominated and led through Greg Eden’s score.
Both sides had a try chalked off before Shane Wright steamed through to put Salford in front for the first time.
Marc Sneyd’s late penalty goal gave Salford an unassailable two-score lead.
Paul Rowley’s side have built a well-earned reputation for a dynamic style of play but this success lacked that finesse and flamboyance as they had to draw on character and grind to make it back-to-back wins, moving them to fifth in the table.
Credit must go to Andy Last’s Castleford for making it difficult for them to play their usual style, thanks to a suffocating line speed and defensive zeal, which shut down the majority of their early shifts wide.
Yet when Salford did get it right it yielded points, such as when Kallum Watkins freed a flick offload to release Ryan Brierley out on the right and last season’s Man of Steel winner Croft tracked a laser-guided kick from the full-back to dot down under the posts.
Wright’s try was more raw-boned power from an Andy Ackers short ball, as Salford simplified their play under the Tigers’ pressure and dominated the second half albeit without racking up the points.
Castleford’s improvements under interim boss Last, who has an interview for the full-time job on Friday, were evident as they gave the home side some uncomfortable moments.
They scored early on, when Kenny Edwards swung an offload for Eden to cross out wide, but were unable to post further points.
Adam Milner and Niall Evalds both came close, failing to convert over the line because of Salford’s defensive desperation.
But pleasing performances do not equate to points, and the Tigers are third from bottom with only two wins from nine.
Salford head coach Paul Rowley told BBC Radio 5 Sports Extra:
“Relief is the major factor for me, there’s a couple of things we didn’t do well in that first half. One was kicking well on last tackle plays, and if you’re going to kick poorly then you need an appetite to defend and I didn’t think we were staunch enough in that area.
“In defence of our players, where I will stand up for them, we wax lyrical about teams not having to do an Easter period now, protecting the product, and we’ve got these elite athletes who need recovery and rest; well our boys have done an Easter period.
“Our first game against Leigh [on Saturday] was a real tussle, a titanic affair, which took a lot of energy out of us and I think you could see that.
“The pleasing thing was to come through it, and to have the resilience and character to come through it tells you that we have no shortage of character in our side. The most important thing today was the win.”
Castleford Tigers interim boss Andy Last told BBC Radio 5 Sports Extra:
“It’s a funny one. I’m absolutely gutted that we haven’t got the two points because to come here [and win] against a really good Salford team would have been great for us in terms of confidence and being able to look up the table.
“We’ve taken some real positive strides defensively, we look a lot more comfortable defending our try-line, but we’re just having to do way too much of it because of the unforced errors coming out of our own end.
“That robs you of energy and in that last 15 minutes we needed a bit more energy to try to forge a bit more of an attacking threat. There are lessons to be learned, lots of positives, but I’m disappointed that we weren’t able to get the two points.
“It’s a strange one, supporters just want to see a try where players put effort in and we’ve seen that bar one game against Warrington. We’re competing hard but just lacking a bit of confidence.”
Salford: Brierley; Sio, Cross, Costello, Burgess; Croft, Sneyd; Dupree, Ackers, Vuniyayawa, Watkins, Stone, Partington.
Interchanges: Ormondroyd, Atkin, Addy, Wright, [Longstaff].
Castleford: Evalds; Eden, Turner, Broadbent, Faraimo; Widdop, Miller; Massey, McShane, Lawler, Edwards, Mellor, Milner.
Interchanges: Griffin, Smith, Hall, Johnson, [Fonua].
Referee: Aaron Moore.
