Despite events after the match putting a downer on the afternoon, Salford Red Devils should take heart from a hard-fought victory over Huddersfield Giants on Easter Monday.
The Reds made the short trip over The Peninnes to take on bottom-of-the-table Huddersfield in this Easter Monday fixture At the John Smith’s Stadium.
Knee injuries to Greg Johnson and captain Tommy Lee meant call-ups for Mason Caton-Brown on the wing and Josh Wood at stand-off.
In the 18th minute the Reds broke the deadlock when former Huddersfield player Craig Kopczak crashed over mid-way between the posts and the corner-flag.
Gareth O’Brien was wide with his conversion attempt but the Reds were ahead at 0-4.
In the 29th minute the Giants at last got some reward for their endeavours when loose-forward Ukuma Ta’ai latched on to a pass from Danny Brough to slice through the Reds defence to score.
Brough added the two points for a 6-4 lead.
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From the restart Huddersfield failed to deal with the kick-off which was palmed back inside to O’Brien who found himself in space to race away to score.
Michael Dobson whacked home the kick to give the Reds a 6-10 lead.
Huddersfield though wasted no time and came storming back when a Brough kick to the corner was snatched from the air by centre Jake Connor to score. Brough converted (12-10).
Four minutes into the second-half saw the Reds regain the lead when Dobson led the charge downfield with the ball reaching Caton-Brown who glided down the wing before passing inside for Josh Griffin to romp over for his 8th try of the season.
Dobson converted (12-16).
In the 50th minute Dobson landed an easy penalty from in front of the posts to extend Salford’s lead (12-18).
Nine minutes later the Giants drew level when a quick move down the right flank enabled winger Jermaine McGillvary to crash over in the corner. Brough landed a great touch-line conversion (18-18).
Huddersfield then took the lead minutes later when a powerful break by Ta’ai brought him a second try. Brough tagged on the easy kick (24-18).
The Reds though weren’t going down without a fight with Dobson sweeping the ball out wide missing out a few players with his pass to Justin Carney who ploughed over to score (24-22).
Salford then grabbed the lead in the 71st minute when a great run by Ben Murdoch-Masila took play deep into the Giants half before he slipped out a pass to substitute Niall Evalds who just managed to squeeze in by the corner-flag.
Dobson was unable to convert but set up a gripping finale which saw the Reds hold on to their slender advantage.
After the disappointing display against Catalan Dragons on Good Friday this was a much better performance which enabled the Reds to move up to seventh place in the table.
Coach Ian Watson said later: “It was a great response to a defeat on Friday and we spoke in depth about what we needed to do after that game.
“We pride ourselves on our defence and the mentality of the guys to stick in there today when it got tough and come through the other side.
“The Easter period is tough, backing up with two games in four days
“We have a good group of players who have belief in what they do and the conditioning they have done pre-season.”
Salford: O’Brien,Caton-Brown, JGriffin, Sau, Carney, Wood, Dobson, Kopczak, Tomkins, G Griffin, Murdoch-Masila, Jones, Flanagan.
Subs: Evalds, A Walne, Forster, Sarsfield.
Referee: Mr J Cobb
Attendance:4,885
