Salford v Leigh Match Report
After a nice warm day in Salford the sun was still shining as the two sides walked out for kick off. Both teams were without a win and perhaps a little low on confidence. Richard Marshall had to make a few alterations to his starting line up due to injuries and the suspension of hooker Andy Ackers.
Elliot Kear came in to replace Morgan Escare at fullback, Krisnan Inu returned at centre to replace the injured Kallum Watkins. James Greenwood was back on the bench along with Greg Burke.
Leigh handed a debut to new signing Anthony Gelling and former Salford favourite Tyrone McCarthy started at prop for the Centurions.
Salford made a nervous start to the game with Leigh forcing an early drop out. On the back of Dec Patton kicking out on the full the Centurions took advantage. A slick move down the left edge saw some crisp passing before Matty Russell strolled in for the games first try.
Lee Mossop came close to scoring but were held up over the line.
Salford were lacking ideas on attack especially in areas of good field position.
The Red Devils scored their first points midway through the first half, kevin Brown putting a try on a plate for James Greenwood with a nice offload. Krisnan Inu converted to nudge Salford in front 6-4.
Another good move down the left edge brought Leigh’s second try. Iain Thornley the scorer.
The introduction of Darcy Lussick seemed to get Salford moving and the big man was hard to stop.
Kevin Brown’s kicking game continued to cause problems for Leigh with a few of them being misjudged by the defence. Salford lacked that killer instinct on attack though and went in at half time trailing 6-8.
Mistakes were a plenty at the start of the second half as both teams struggled to complete a set of six.
Kevin Brown took matters into his own hands gliding through a gap to score Salford’s second try.
Salford continued to make errors early in the tackle count and Leigh went looking to strike a blow. The pressure was mounting before a piece of sheer brilliance from Inu sending Ken Sio racing away to score a try totally against the run of play to get the Red Devils out of jail.
Leigh looked to have run out of steam as Kevin Brown grabbed his second try with ten minutes remaining. Inu missed the conversion 22-8.
Moments later Harvey Livett set Chris Atkin up to score Salford’s fifth try leaving the score line looking a little harsh on the battling Centurions.
Confidence in sport can be a massive thing and for the last fifteen minutes off this match Salford seemed to find some. The turning point of the match had to be Inu’s juggling act.
Livett rounded the scoring off with a last minute try.
Twenty two unanswered points from Salford took the game away from a valiant Leigh side.
Salford still have a lot to work on and will face another stern test next Friday when Castleford are the visitors to the AJ Bell Stadium.
Salford 34 Leigh 8.
Paul Whiteside.
Pictures by Steve McCormick
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