Match report by Ken Roberts
City Roosters suffered a crushing blow to their hopes of avoiding relegation when they were well beaten by play-off hopefuls Skirlaugh in Hull, and the travelling Roosters officials could not have been prouder of their team? They were proud of their players because, to a man, all 13 of them performed heroically. The final score in no way reflected the effort that was put in by the 13 hero’s and that sentiment was echoed by the home coaching staff and the referee.
There were 8 players missing from the side that beat Wigan St. Judes last time out and only 4 replacements could be found, meaning the side travelled without any substitutes. Andrew Muscat and Jake Lynch were away representing Malta against Ireland the same day, which is a “feather in the cap” for the club, and Jordan Parker announced in mid week that he would not be playing again this season due to recurring knee problems, but 5 other players were also unavailable for various reasons.
Coming into the side were 50 year old Jimmy Lomax and first team debutant Gareth Morris, who along with Danny Trimble made up the front row and George Kemp made a welcome return on the wing whilst coach Paul Verdon was forced to come out of retirement to take up the stand off role. Tom Pratt had an outstanding game in his first outing as full back but, centre Christian Higgins was perhaps unlucky to be “pipped” by Joe Connor for the man of the match award.
The Roosters were actually just about the better side in the opening exchanges and were unlucky to fall behind on 8 minutes when Lee Waterman broke and sent Carl Puckering scampering between the sticks for a try which he also converted (0-6). Indeed, the home side went on to score 10 tries and converted every one of them – Puckering slotting the first 9 and then former Doncaster RLFC man Waterman converting the final try from the touch line. The score was doubled on 16 minutes when Puckering again “jinked” his way through the defence to score his second try (0-12).
Salford first troubled the scoreboard on 21 minutes when Higgins was hauled down close to the line and Mike Foster passed for Connor to spin out of a tackle and touchdown, although too far out for Kemp to convert (4-12), but on 31 minutes Puckering completed his hat trick to set himself up for a personal haul of 30 points (4-18).
The Roosters continued to match their hosts however and on 34 minutes Kemp was held up over the line, then, from the play the ball, Will Rigby sent Joe Connor crashing over for his second try and this time Kemp Converted (10-18). Salford hopes of going into the break just 8 points adrift were cruelly dashed though on the stroke of half time. Mike Johnson sent Pickering racing away but he was caught by Kemp but still managed to offload for Waterman to score (10-24).
Tiredness was always going be a factor in the second half and after the visitors held their line intact for the opening 6 minutes the Hull team “cut loose” and scored 4 tries in 13 minutes of the third quarter. Waterman “dummied” his way over wide out on 46 minutes (10-30) then Luke Thompson was brought down by Tom Smith, but not held and managed to stretch over the line on 53 minutes (10-36). Smith was unlucky not to prevent a try again on 57 minutes when he chased back to catch Stuart Smith who’s momentum took him over the line (10-42) and straight from the re-start Harry Inman raced own the wing and round the posts to make the score 10-48).
Skirlaugh stretched the lead to 10-54 on 62 minutes, although it was through the luckiest try of the game. James Higginbottom chipped the ball over the defence on half way and it seemed that the ball would bounce harmlessly into the hands of the Roosters, but, it took a wicked bounce straight back to Higginbottom who surged between the sticks. The feeling now was that Skirlaugh would score at will but that was not the case. Roosters still had pride in their shirts.
There was a certain amount of “sledging” going on by the home side with more than one reference to the Roosters players drawing their pension on Monday and on 64 minutes Higgins took exception to another comment made in the tackle and punches were exchanged. Several players ran in but it was over in seconds. After consulting his touch judges the referee sin binned Higgins and Hull player Lee Hobbs but Roosters player/coach Verdon received a red card as well.
Evan with a man down the Roosters defended valiantly and only allowed Skirlaugh one more score and that came on 73 minutes Waterman completed his hat trick (10-60) and in fact, it was the Salford team that scored the final try of the game with 3 minutes to go. Foster off loaded out of a tackle to Pratt who suddenly saw a gap and ran through to score in the corner, albeit again too far out for Kemp to convert (14-60).
Despite the 3 cards it was not a dirty game and the penalty count was 7-2 in favour of the Roosters, and it is also nice to be able to report that the referee Mr Jason Woodman and both of his touch judges had excellent games. They are not likely to feature at a higher level though as they were all able to spot forward passes!
