“I can’t speak highly enough of them” – Paul Rowley after Salford’s historic win

Salford Red Devils boss Paul Rowley has praised his team for their first away win against St Helens for 44 years.

Coach Rowley said: “To come here and break a record like that is very pleasing. We always expect to win games as a group, but we have so much respect for this great club. The result shows how committed we are.”

In the first half, St. Helens were the more dominant side of the two as Jack Welsby scored the opening try from a scrum 10 metres away from the Salford line. Half back Lewis Dodd then scored after a Sione Mata’utia break leaving Salford trailing 8-0.

Salford hit back through winger Deon Cross to make it 8-6 before St Helens centre Mark Percival scored for Saints just before the break to make it 14-6 going into half time.

The major turning point of the match came five minutes into the first half when Percival was controversially red-carded for a high tackle on Salford forward Ormondroyd.

Despite this, St Helens still managed to get the next score as Dodd stepped through the Salford defence to make it 20-6.

At this point Salford could have crumbled given they were 14 points behind in a fixture they have not won for 44 years. However they dug in as Nene MacDonald first crossed to get them back into the game.

Chris Atkin then scored to take Salford within two points of the Saints before Deon Cross scored his second of the game. Dean Cross scored after his centre, Tim Lafai, offloaded to him after Waqa Blake failed to tackle him letting him through the line.

The importance of Salford Halfback Marc Sneyd in this win once again cannot be understated as his goal kicking proved the decisive factor in the game. Both teams scored 4 tries each but St Helens only converted two of theirs compared to Sneyd’s 100 percent record with the boot.

St Helens coach Paul Wellens said: “Naturally, I’m disappointed with the result, particularly after the way we started.”

The result leaves Salford 6th in the league with 3 wins from 4 games in what has been an impressive start to the season.