With Leeds out of sorts and only two victories recorded so far this season, Salford had their best chance yet of overcoming the Rhinos on Saturday 9 April.
Salford had won just once in 36 Super League meetings and had not managed to record a home victory of any kind since a 21-12 Regal Trophy success at The Willows in November 1993.
Salford were boosted by the return of star stand-off Robert Lui, who has missed the last four games with a knee injury, and prop Craig Kopczak, who was a late withdrawal from the team that lost at Wakefield with a back spasm.
Skipper Tommy Lee was still an absentee. Leeds were without second-rower Josh Walters, former Reds centre Joel Moon and international wingers Ryan Hall and Tom Briscoe.
The Reds did well to survive two early assaults on their line as Leeds looked to get a foothold in the game.
Perhaps against the run of play the Reds broke the deadlock when Logan Tomkins plunged in for a close-range try by the posts. Gareth O’Brien added the simple conversion and a Michael Dobson penalty soon after for an 8-0 lead.
After the brief spurt of activity the half continued with both sides making numerous handling errors.
In 45th minute the Reds got into double figures when Lui dummied his way over to score a crucial try. Dobson slotted home the conversion to put Salford firmly in the driving seat at 14-0.
Salford had a let-off shortly after when Rob Burrows sent Kallum Watkins crashing through but referee Phil Bentham ruled he was held-up over the line. A further effort was disallowed ten minutes later.
Prop-forward Mitch Garbutt ploughed over through a ruck of Reds players to give Leeds hope with seven minutes remaining. Zak Hardaker added the extras for a 14-6 scoreline.
Four minutes later,Leeds edged even closer when winger Ashton Golding raced in at the corner for an unconverted try and a final score of 14-10.
The return of Lui undoubtedly provided the Reds with another decision-maker on the pitch at vital moments in the game but it was their defensive efforts which gave them the platform for this rare success over Leeds.
Coach Ian Watson conceded later: “We’ve not beaten them for a long time. But most importantly we got a win and it puts us back to where we want to be, challenging towards the top end rather than looking below us.”
“We looked at a lot of teams who have played Leeds recently and we thought we could come up with a way – if we executed it properly and we defended well – that we would stop them from scoring.
“So, the boys deserve all the credit because they have gone out and put it into action.”
Salford Red Devils: O’Brien, Carney, Sau, J Griffin, Evalds, Lui, Dobson, Kopczak, Tomkins, G Griffin, Murdoch-Masila, Jones, Flanagan.
Subs: Wood, A Walne, J Walne, Krasniqi.
Referee: Mr P Bentham
Attendance: 4,912
Main image: © SteveMcPix
