Castleford Tigers survived an almighty scare to narrowly see off an injury-hit Salford side and improve their position inside Super League’s top eight.
Salford, without 14 first-team players for the game due to injuries and suspensions, put up a real fight but ultimately came up just short amid an injury crisis that deepened further throughout the course of the game.
They finished the match with just one fit interchange on the bench and, after almost bringing the 38-year-old assistant coach, Ian Watson, out of retirement for this match to ease the crisis, Iestyn Harris admitted he may be left with no choice to play Watson, who has not played a Super League game since 2002, against Hull FC on Friday night.
“It’s disappointing not to win the game,” Harris, the Salford coach, said. “It was one of those games that got away from us, and we could and should have won it. We’ve lost more players today due to injury; Liam Hood has gone to hospital with a suspected broken thumb, and Adrian Morley has turned his ankle which could rule him out. We’ll have to assess the situation later this week, but I’m very proud of their effort.”
Castleford, who have a fair few injury problems of their own, will care little about Salford’s injury woes though, and will simply be happy to head back across the M62 with two points that nudge them up to sixth place – despite being far from their best. “We weren’t great,” said their coach, Daryl Powell. “Sometimes it’s like that when you lose the week before, and this instantly becomes a more important game.
“Everyone will say Salford had loads out so therefore we had to win – and the pressure was on us. We just need to relax a bit more when we’re out there.”
The first half was an even affair, with the sides locked at 10-10 at the break. By that point Salford had already lost Hood and Morley, and, after a brace of tries from Nathan Massey and the debutant Ash Robson put Castleford 22-10 to the good, a young Salford side could quite easily have buckled.
However, they fought back well and, after Kevin Locke claimed his second try of the match to reduce the deficit with 12 minutes left, Salford sniffed a comeback.
And both sets of fans were provided with a grandstand finish when, with less than a minute left, Scott Taylor barged his way over, with Greg Johnson’s goal making it 22-20.
Salford tried to claim the most incredible of wins but time escaped them. However, as their coach said, Salford fans can certainly be proud of the effort their side showed despite defeat.
Salford Evalds; Locke, Caton-Brown, Gildart, Johnson; Fages, Griffin; Taylor, Godwin, Tasi, Hansen, Forster, Greenwood. Interchange Lannon, Hood, Morley, Gee. Tries Fages, Locke 2, Taylor. Goals Locke, Johnson.
Castleford Tansey; Clare, Gibson, Shenton, Robson; Roberts, Gale; Lynch, Moore, Wheeldon, Holmes, Millington, Massey. Interchange Milner, Jewitt, Moors, Maher. Tries Gibson 2, Massey, Robson. Goals Gale 3.
Referee George Stokes. Attendance 3,397
