Salford boss Paul Rowley hailed double try-scorer Kallum Watkins’ “spirit and heart” after he helped earn a 22-16 victory over Leeds.
Salford started the contest on the back foot after Tim Lafai was sent to the sin bin and Leeds made sure they cashed in on the extra man with tries from Matt Frawley and Alfie Edgell but a yellow card to Leeds’ Rhyse Martin allowed Watkins to fly over for his first.
Brodie Croft restored Leeds’ double-digit lead in front of his old fans but Salford bit back yet again through Watkins’ second of the half.
Salford did not allow their opponents to breathe in the second period which they dominated from start to finish – Joe Mellor bagged the only try of the half to put the Devils in front before Marc Sneyd kicked two penalties either side of James Bentley’s sin-binning to seal an important victory.
Rowley was impressed with Watkins’ performance against his former employers.
He said: “Since I’ve been at this club, I’ve never come across a player that’s had a bigger influence on a club than Watkins.
“I guess he’s the perfect role model as a captain, as a player and human being. I thought his performance today was brilliant and comes from the work he does during the week on himself physically as an older player and preparation.
“He absolutely nailed everything he had to do and worked tirelessly, he does all them things but he has a spirit and heart to match.
“We all feel the same at the club and feel privileged to work alongside Kallum, I thought he was fantastic and deserved the man of the match.”
The win strengthens Salford’s play-off bid while Leeds’ own hopes took another blow.
Rowley added: “We go to Saints on Thursday so we are straight back at it at a tough place to go.
“Someone said ‘your run-in is tricky’, well the first 20 rounds have been tricky, Super League is tricky, we just have to keep going.
“We have worked hard to be in a position we are in and as it stands we are the masters of our own destiny but we understand it, things change quickly and we have to keep the foot on the gas.”
Leeds head coach Brad Arthur blamed an accumulation of “silly things” for their defeat at the Salford Stadium.
He said: “A good fight and turning up for each other but did a lot of silly things.
“Too many errors, sin bins, penalties, lot of unprofessional bits and pieces of our game which leads to frustrations.
“It’s frustrating and you can see the disappointment in the players and they should be. We have to learn how to build the game.
“Its tough but there is still plenty of footy, we are not going to give in with the fight.
“We have to take it a week at a time and the only thing we can focus on is how we perform and make sure we get as many wins and two points as we can.”
Text credit: Sunny Badwal, PA
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