A ten-minute sin-binning of skipper, Kallum Watkins, midway through the first half, for a late tackle on Asi, proved to be a quite decisive moment in the Red Devils’ encounter with the Castleford Tigers, in their visit to the Jungle, last Friday, with the home side immediately taking advantage of the extra man, to open the scoring with a converted try under the posts.
The scoring throughout remainder of the game then proceeded on a tit-for-tat basis, once the balance in numbers had been restored, with points equally distributed between the two sides right up to the last minute, when the Tigers slotted over a penalty goal for an additional couple of points.
It was therefore that early score which always ensured the Yorkshire side were the team able to pull ahead, with Salford charged with the task of trying to draw level.
The game had started in almost identical fashion to the Leeds home game, a fortnight earlier, with Marc Sneyd putting the Red Devils immediately onto the attack, with, yet again, the first of two incredible kicking fetes.
This one was a well-taken 40-20, whilst thirty-eight minutes later, he was to close the half with a much relieving 20-40.
Unfortunately, as in the said encounter with Leeds, the Reds were unable to take advantage of the great position to turn the opportunity into points, as handling errors once again evidenced the signs of ring-rustiness, within the side.
Indeed, Castleford were then able to establish a dominance, particularly in respect of field position, as a result of higher set completion rates and greater physicality, right up to the return of Watkins to the fray.
At that point, having managed to restrict their hosts to the one score with only twelve men and their measuring up to prevent any further setbacks, boosted their confidence considerably that, not only were they able to give as good as they got, having been denied on a couple of occasions near the line, they were able to draw level, four minutes from half-time, with an equalising, Sneyd-converted try.
The classiest of offloads, right out of the top draw round the back of his would-be tackler, from Watkins to the supporting Ryan Brierley, enabled the fullback to motor with speed on a diagonal run to cross towards the righthand corner.
Rather like the pendulum of a clock, the second half saw the game swing backwards and forwards from one side to the other. Undoubtedly, the Tigers had the better of the opening, third quarter, as they first restored, and then extended, their lead to eight points, from a converted try and a penalty goal.
The Salford response came on 52 mins, when stand-in hooker, Kai Morgan, who had an absolutely outstanding game, throughout, scooted forty metres from dummy-half, and with a well-executed pass found Watkins, who went on to underline his most impressive, captain-like performance, with a try of his own.
With Sneyd’s conversion, followed by one successful penalty-goal from his two attempts, the Red Devils had drawn level.
Castleford fans will point to the overturning of three groundings by the video referee, but this was down to the pressure put on individual players, by the Salford defence, in their act of scoring, or, as in one case, because of an infringement in the build up to it.
In fact, the role of the video referee has grown further, over the close season, with his now being involved in the captain’s challenge – an aspect of the game which the team appears to have mastered well to their own advantage.
Two of three Salford calls went in their favour, with the third, on 77 mins, being well worth the chance, at that stage of the game, and proving to be quite a close call against them, as things turned out.
Despite the scoreboard being to the Tigers’ advantage, Salford fans will have cause to be satisfied with an overall improved performance, on yet another visit to Yorkshire, with a depleted side, at a venue where, historically, the Reds have had limited success. A win in this coming Friday’s Challenge Cup match with Bradford would be a tremendous boost to everyone.
