The Red Devils suffered a third straight defeat to the hands of Super League Champions Leeds Rhinos.
Salford came into the game looking to get their Super 8 Qualifier campaign back on track following defeats to Leigh and Hull KR.
Ian Watson made a number of changes to the team following these results, with Daniel Vidot, returning to the fray, alongside Ryan Lannon and Niall Evalds.
Leeds started off the game in a positive fashion and were quickly over the line when Jamie Jones-Buchanan scored from close range to make the score 0-6.
Salford were not behind for long however. Michael Dobson put a high kick up, which was batted down by Josh Griffin, into the hands of Dobson, who passed to George Griffin to score under the posts.
The game then developed into a scrappy affair, with the both teams racking up high error counts, and the referees whistle having a big impact on affairs.
Salford would go on to benefit from this high penalty count, with O’Brien knocking one over from close range to move Salford into a 10-6 lead.
Just minutes later, O’Brien feel foul of the referees judgement, getting 10 minutes in the Sin Bin after stopping Leeds from taking a quick penalty.
The Rhinos took advantage of the numerical advantage with Kallum Watkins diving over following a clever offload from Jones-Buchanan. The conversion was missed and the home side took a slender 10-8 lead into the interval.
After the break, Salford looked to have scored first, only for an apparent try to be ruled out for a double movement.
Leeds quickly moved the ball to the other end of the field, and extended their lead through another penalty, before James Segeyaro pounced on a loose ball, grubber kicked and gathered to score under the posts for the Rhinos, pushing them out to a 18-8 lead.
Shortly after, the home side scored again for would prove to be the definitive score of the game, Carl Ablett benefitting from a precise cross field kick from Rob Burrow.
With 20 minutes still remaining in the game, Salford came back at Leeds looking to get
reduce the deficit, but a couple of loose passes and solid Leeds defence kept the Red Devils at bay.
Leeds found time for one more score with Adam Cuthbertson going over to make the final score 30-8 to the Rhinos
The defeat leaves the Red Devils needing crucial wins in their upcoming home games against Featherstone and London to get their qualifier campaign back on track.
Salford Red Devils: Evalds, J.Griffin, Sa’u, Jones, Vidot, O’Brien, Dobson, Burgess, Tomkins, G.Griffin, Murdoch-Masila, Hauraki, Flanagan.
Interchange: Kopczak, Lannon, Krasniqi, Lui
