Injury-hit Salford face Huddersfield tonight but there were some concerning sights as they fell short against Catalan Dragons at the weekend.
In the first of two Easter games Ian Watson pushed Gareth O’Brien to full-back to replace Niall Evalds, hooker Tommy Lee moved to stand-off, Logan Tomkins started at nine while Carl Forster was drafted in at loose-forward.
The Reds got off to a bad start when O’Brien failed to gain ten yards from the kick-off and things got worse with Salford’s French visitors opening their account in the 3rd minute with a try from Tony Gigot.
In the 15th minute the Reds drew level after Tommy Lee had been brought down close to the try line. From the resulting drop-out Justin Carney set off on a determined run before the ball was moved out wide where Josh Griffin bundled his way over (4-4).
Almost on the half-hour the Dragons forged ahead when hooker Eloi Pelissier scooted over from acting-half.
Richards added the straight-forward conversion and a penalty not long after for a 4-12 lead.
The Reds were desperate to score again and should have scored through Josh Jones but he was hauled down just short.
In the 52nd minute the Dragons increased their lead when the burly Dave Taylor crashed over after O’Brien and Carney failed to deal with a high kick. Richards converted for a 4-18 advantage.
Seven minutes later the Reds sparked into life when Logan Tomkins reacted quickly to a spilled ball by the French. He punted the ball to the corner for Greg Johnson to pounce on to score and give the fans something to cheer about (8-18).
The Reds were gradually having more of a say in the game and after Catalan were penalised three times for holding- down the ball was swept out wide for Johnson to race in for his second try. O’Brien was again unable to improve (12-18).
Another penalty from Richards took the score to 12-20 before sloppy Reds handling gifted Taylor his second try. Richards added the conversion for a final score of 12-26.
For the second game in succession the Reds put on a poor display.
They made far too many errors, lacked organisation at times and have lost the fluency with the ball which was a highlight of so many games until recently.
More alarmingly there seemed to be a lack of appetite from some quarters.
Afterwards Ian Watson commented: “We made a lot of fundamental errors and there were a lot of silly things out there. If we had completed our sets we could easily have won that game.
“We missed the jump on certain things and our organisation wasn’t great. We did not get the opportunity to get to the right points and play the right system. We fell off what we have been doing.
“We conceded a couple of soft tries and that’s a concentration thing.”
Salford: O’Brien, Carney, Sau, J Griffin, Johnson, Lee, Dobson, Kopczak, Tomkins, G Griffin, Murdoch-Masila, Jones, Forster.
Subs: Flanagan, A Walne, Sarsfield, Joseph.
Referee: Mr R Silverwood
Main image: Dragons TV
