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Sunday 13 April 2014

Harris starts with a win and possibly more to come.

The Iestyn Harris era at Salford Red Devils started with a bang on friday night with a 38-24 win away at Bradford.

Tries from Jake Mullaney, Tim Smith, Andrew Dixon, Junior Sau, Rangi Chase, Tony Puliatua and Francis Meli saw Salford Home.

I thought that the whole game we didn't look in any danger of losing the game which for Salford playing away anywhere never mind Bradford is a new experience. 
Its a good sign that the Harris coming in is having a positive effect and hopefully more to come.

Crutial period of the season approaching

Looking at the fixture list and the league table the next 5 games will be crutial on how Salfords season will develop.

The easter period is alway tough with the league shield winners last season and Leeds Rhinos away on the Monday Iestyn Harris and his men will need to be on their game and produce two very good performances to pick up the points.
After these two games Salford have a tough trip to Catalan, Hull KR and Widnes in the cup to test themselves.

With Salford back in the 8 and needing more wins to cement their place further up the table I predict a 3/5 wins and being through to the next round of the cup would be minimum requirement with the squad we have.

Devil in the Detail...A family affair

On this weeks show Patrick is joined by his younger brother to discuss what has happened at Bradford, the amateur roundup, preview the easter weekend and the look back at the news stories from the world of Salford Red Devils over the last 7 days.

With nearly 500 plays of last week's podcast our biggest total in one week and our 3rd Highest ever it has become a huge success.
Another success was my commentary on the official Red Devils app with over 900 people listening in against Bradford.

With the Android version of the app due out next week im sure both the podcast  and the people listening to the live commentary including this Friday against Huddersfield will continue to grow.

Tuesday 8 April 2014

A Crazy week in the world of Salford Red Devils

Well what a week it has been last Thursday night we went to the KC Stadium in Hull and witnessed one of Salfords greatest Challenge Cup comebacks to reach the 5th Round and lot of Salford Fans were dreaming of a good cup run to hopefully push our season on to greater things.

Looking back at the game we looked dead and buried a couple of times in the game but though pure grit and determination and a willingness not to throw in the towel we got ourselves off the canvass thanks to a last minute try from Francis Meli and a absolute wonderful touchline conversion by Jake Mullaney.

The scenes of pure joy i witnessed from my commentary box while commentating on the Salford Red devils official app of Salford fans jumping around celebrating was something that will live with me forever, it meant so much to the fans to still have a taste of glory in Rugby leagues greatest cup competition  and you could tell that by the celebrations.
 Lets be honest if we were to pick a trophy to win it would be the challenge cup over the super league title every time.

So we made it into extra time and in my opinion held our nerve well, Hull never really put us under any real pressure and we had good field position and kicked very well.
One towering kick by our man Rangi Chase was spilled by a hull defender, from the scrum Salford carmly played position football and allowed Rangi Chase who had been wonderful all night to kick Salford into the next round.

So 5 coaches of Salford Fans went home happy little did they know the drama was only just begining.

Stood at the Crossroads wondering which way to go

So Friday came Salford fans were still day dreaming of events of the previous night when news broke that Dr Koukash had ask Brain Noble to step down as coach of Salford Red Devils and take up a role of Director of Football at the club and his coaching duties would now be undertaken by Iestin Harris.

People say that following Salford is a rollercoaster ride, excitment to the very end with a blend of joy and despair chucked in to keep even the most level headed Salford fan in a constant tail spin, this week has been no different.

There are pros and cons to the decision that the Good Doctor has made regarding our change in our coaching deparment.
me, Patrick and Shirley Bradshaw Forever Reds chairperson will discuss it in detail on this weeks DEVIL IN THE DETAIL podcast out later today.
So tune in and listen to what we think and see if you agree

Wrong numbers in the cup

 Salford made it though to the next round of the cup and our coaching restrucring taking place most Salford fans thought the drama had ended there...they were wrong.
During the challenge cup Draw for the next round Leeds Rhinos Legend and Rugby league pundit Garry Schofield managed to confuse the number 9 ball with the number 6 ball.

Salfords name had already succesfully been pulled out of the hat as the home team but with the error highlighed on social media that the wrong team had been drawn away to the Red Devils.
The team who salford should have been drawn against at home was Bradford but as Widnes Vikings had been called out after a bit of confusion after the draw it was decided that the draw should stand.

Realistically we should be looking to beat both of them teams at home so in my opinion to ask for the draw to be redrawn and run the risk of pulling Leeds or St Helens out was too great.

I suspect if we had been drawn against Wigan and it should have been Bradford i think it would have been a different result.

Back for good

I just want to say sorry i have not blogged much recently, i have been busy co-hosting The Devil in the Detail podcast with Patrick Noone, so far it has been an amazing experience and with now 14 shows in the can its great that it has become a fixture in so many peoples weekly routine.

With over 5000 Listens, nearly 300 followers on twitter (@ditdsrd) and approaching 250 followers on Facebook (Devil in the Detail SRD) so far i would like to thank you for supporting it and listening, me, Patrick, Mark and Paul with continue to make it the best podcast it can be.