A lovely warm sunny afternoon welcomed Salford and Catalan to the pitch.
The Dragons coming in to the match bottom of the table but knowing a victory would get them with in touching distance of the Red Devil’s.
Ian Watson’s side on the back of three defeats with last weeks disappointing cup exit to Championship’s form side Leigh adding to there recent woes.
The Gollowgate end looked a real spectacle with the Salford supporters wearing the clubs special yellow bee jerseys as everyone remembered the tragic victims of last May.
Catalan made a mistake on there first set knocking on in there own half. Robert Lui kicked out wide for Kris Welham to put Derrell Olpherts in at the corner. Referee Gareth Hewer goes to the video replay and no try is awarded.
Salford looking a lot more adventurous with the ball grab the first try of the match after some neat of loads Weller Hauraki is under the posts.
Three penalties on the trot for the Dragons pave the way for an assault on the Salford line. Ben Garcia stretches out to score, after another consultation with the video referee the try is given. Josh Drinkwater failed to convert, 6-4 to The Red Devil’s.
Tony Gigot missed a routine penalty goal but moments later Logan Tomkins failed to deal with a near grubber kick leaving Julian Bousquet the easy task of falling on the ball. Gigot added the conversion to give the Dragons the lead 6-10.
Gigot continued to cause Salford problems with his dangerous direct running around the ruck.
Former Salford star Jodie Broughton scored the first points of the second half Welham shooting out of the line leaving Niall Evalds exposed. Gigot’s conversion attempt was well wide but with half an hour remaining Catalan had an eight point lead.
Salford continued to poke and prod in attack
but the next points came against the run of play. A huge hit on Niall Evalds forced the knock on, Josh Drinkwater collecting the loose ball sending Broughton racing away with a lovely pass to score his second try. Moments later Gigot provided a smart kick on a plate for Broughton to complete a second half hat trick. At 6-24 it seemed a long road back for Salford in the final 15 minutes.
Broughton’s next involvement was to miss read a Salford kick, Welham off loads to Craig Kopzack but he couldn’t take the pass with the try line begging.
Welham then left the field after picking up a knock in a heavy collision. On the next set a The Dragons received a penalty straight in front of the posts and the signal came from the bench to kick at goal. Gigot added the two points to extend the lead to 6-26 compounding Salford to third successive league defeat.
George Griffin went over for Salford in the closing stages, Jack Littlejohn knocking on from the kick off summed up another disappointing 80 minutes.
Final score at St James’s Park Salford 12 Catalan 26.
Ian Watson was again very disappointed with the result stating that training had gone really along with preparation through the week. A poor completion rate and errors costing his side yet again. The lack of depth in the squad seems to be hampering Salford who now have a huge match next Friday against Huddersfield.
Report by Paul Whiteside
Pictures by Steve McCormick
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