Saturday, 8th August, 2015.
NCL division 1
Match report by Ken Roberts
The curse of Summer Rugby League struck the Salford City Roosters again when they made the trip to Hull to face Myton Warriors, with 6 of the side that ended their losing run against the same opposition the previous week unavailable, and worse still, only 4 replacements could be found, meaning the team travelled with only 2 substitutes.
It was a bad day all round for Roosters as they rarely threatened the home try line and, in the first half particularly they suffered from more dropped passes than they would normally expect in a month! The penalty count was only 10-7 in favour of the Hull team but it seemed that every time the Roosters fell foul of the officials they were punished by conceding points.
There was no lack of effort from the Salford team and all concerned with the club know that they are a better side than this performance would suggest, but this was just one of those days where too many players were required to play out of position and every 50/50 incident went the way of the home team. Danny Trimble took the man of the match award for Salford for his aggressive tackling and willingness to take the ball up time and again.
Myton took the lead on 8 minutes when they sent a high kick towards the Salford try line and players from both sides challenged for the ball. Andrew Muscat managed to knock the ball backwards but there was nobody there to receive it and Nathan Slater gleefully accepted the gift try which Ashley James converted (0-6).
The lead was doubled on 19 minutes when 2 successive penalties put Warriors within striking distance of the Roosters line and Richard Dunham scored next to the post leaving James an easy conversion (0-12). James also converted the next 2 Myton tries which came on 25 and 30 minutes, although there was an element of luck about both of them. Slater scored his second with another unopposed run to the try line after Roosters coughed up the ball in the tackle and nobody reacted to the loose ball, expecting the referee to award a scrum (0-18). Kris Walker added Mytons 4th try when his hopeful kick on the last tackle bounced off a couple of players’ straight back into his hands (0-24).
Any hopes of a comeback were dashed just 2 minutes into the second period when another penalty put Myton on the attack and a clever low kick past the Salford defenders was collected by Slater who went over to complete his hat trick. With James off the field change kicker Walker added the extras (0-30).
On 49 minutes Salford got on the scoreboard when a Myton pass went to ground and Jordan Parker scooped the ball up and won the race to the try line. Parker also added the goal points (6-30), but the Warriors hit back with 2 more tries in 5 minutes, starting on 53 minutes. First, Slater’s kick to the corner was grounded by Mike Ward just before it went dead and Walker converted brilliantly from the touch line (6-36) then, two more successive penalties gave Myton good field position and Walker “dummied” his way through a gap to record his second try, although James resumed the kicking duties and failed to score (6-40).
Surprisingly, with 22 minutes left to play the Roosters defended manfully, even surviving the 68th minute sin binning of Ross Smith for dissent, but no more points were posted either way.
Referee:- Mr Liam Staveley (Bradford).
Half time= 0-24. Full time= 6-40.
