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Ade Gardner proved his doubters wrong with a man of the match display, backed by superb goalkicking from Ste Tyrer, to beat a spirited Salford side 32-20.

His 70-yard try four minutes from time sealed a great win.

Games against Salford this season have often been nailbiters and this one was just the same; twelve a piece at half time and to any spectator it could have gone anywhere.

But up stepped the unusual combination of Keiron Cunningham and Ade Gardner with 12 left on the clock to put Saints ahead.

Then the Cumbrian flyer sealed the win.

Saints made several changes from last week’s defeat in France. Back from injury came Ste Tyrer and Lee Gilmour, Matt Gidley moved to full back in place of Paul Wellens, Nick Fozzard returned in the pack and James Roby joined Matty Smith to form a new half back partnership.

Chris Flannery continued in the loose role and Chris Dean made his debut for the club off the bench.

Saints made a sprightly start with Cunningham making good yards down the middle and Smith kicking deep. Salford responded with some good field position and some big hits on Saints’ forwards.

But it was Saints who hit first. In fairly atypical fashion, Cunningham created some great space in the middle for Bennett and Gilly to draw the defence and put Gardner in the right hand corner. Tyrer slotted the perfect conversion.

Salford hit back straightaway with a well worked try. The ball was kept alive through several pairs of hands and went right to left before it was sent out again to the right and Littler managed to get some space to ghost over. Wilshere added the extras.

Instantly the home side had Saints on the rack and on 11 minutes got themselves close with a penalty. But despite an overlap begging, the pass to Richie Barnett was far too hard when simplicity may have put them ahead.

A couple of minutes later Cunningham knocked on to give Salford possession 40 out. Phillip Leuluai barged into the Saints to start the onslaught but great defence forced a drop out. Gardner then stopped Ian Sibbit going through and thankfully poor handling denied Salford a clear-cut opportunity.

It was a welcome respite for the Saints who had been on the rack for several minutes.

But back came the Reds once more. Luke Robinson chipped a great kick through that was fielded by stand in full back Matt Gidley, but Salford were caught offside.

On 20 minutes, Roby and Graham came on to add a little bite to the pack and Anderson’s move was very nearly rewarded. But once again poor handling denied the opportunity.

A minute later, Gids went over from close range to give Saints the lead. A special move bamboozled the defence and the Aussie made no mistake; going under the back dot. Tyrer tagged on the extras.

On 33 minutes Meli made a simple error to give Salford a great chance in Saints’ 20. A tricky kick from Dorn was fired into the corner, and despite beating the first man, the winger was bundled into touch.

Robinson went close before Moule created space for Barnett to simply go in. But Richie had other ideas as he cut inside and lost the ball under pressure.

Yet, a sting was to come as seconds later James Graham threw an interception and Wilshire profited to go over from around 10 yards. He also brought the scores level from the boot to end a satisfactory half for the Reds.

Into the second half, Saints made some good headway on their first set of six but Matty Smith’s ‘up and under’ was too deep to cause significant panic in the Salford defence.

Salford responded with great field position (aided by a penalty) and started to turn up the pressure once again on the Saints line. But Gards was equal to the kick Robinson put in.

Moments later a great kick and chase from Matty Smith brought to life to the amassed away support.

McGuiness then brought panic with a great chip through to his wingman from around 40 out; Meli and Gids stuffing out the danger (albeit with a hint of a knock on). Saints then knocked on, Korkidas was taken high and Wilshire put the home side two to the good.

The kick put added emphasis into Salford’s play; tenacious in attack and defence and from this vantage point Saints needed to wake up fast or face losing top spot.

On 56 Alker made a superb breakthrough only to be collared inches from the line by a superb cover tackle. From the resultant play, the home side failed to ground the ball and Saints had a major let off.

Saints fired straight back through a huge Matty Smith bomb which Salford failed to deal with. Although Saints could count themselves slightly unlucky as it was clearly fielded by the defence in an offside position. But Ian Smith let it roll and then missed another blatant knock on two tackles later.

Moments later another Smith bomb was forced over the dead ball for a drop out. Firstly Graham powered the ball in, then Fozzie but the former dropped the ball in the next tackle.

Although the end result was poor, the pressure got Saints going once again and a penalty inside Salford’s twenty was the ideal opportunity to fire back.

Roby went close then Gilly went on a mazy run drawing the defence all over the place. On the next tackle, the ball came out to Graham who hit it like an express train to plough under the black dot. Tyrer extended the lead further.

Cunningham then ran the ball in moments later from 40 yards after a superb break on the right from Gards. Tyrer made it four from four.

But Salford were not finished there. Wilshire added his second from close range to make sure of a tight and nervous ending to the game.

From the restart Salford dropped the ball and then went in offside to give Tyrer the chance to make it five from five – something which he did with ease.

The Reds then tried a short kick off from the restart and Barnett made a complete hash of what should have been an easy take and run in to the try line.

Smith then missed with a drop goal attempt and it was left for Gardner (with the away support singing his name) to go 70 yards, a few moments later, to seal the win. Tyrer once again adding the extras.

Match Summary:

Salford:

Tries: Littler, Wilshire (2)

Goals: Wilshire (4 from 4)

Drops:

Saints:

Tries: Gardner (2), Gidley, Graham, Cunningham

Goals: Tyrer (6 from 6)

Drops:

Penalties:

Salford: 7

Saints: 10

HT: 12-12

FT: 32-20

ATT: 5,031

SAINTS MOM: Ade Gardner

REF: Ian Smith

TEAMS:

Saints:

3. Matt Gidley; 2. Ade Gardner, 11. Lee Gilmour, 24. Ste Tyrer, 5. Francis Meli; 14. James Roby, 21. Matty Smith; 8. Nick Fozzard, 9. Keiron Cunningham, 10. Jason Cayless, 15. Mike Bennett, 22. Paul Clough, 30. Chris Flannery.

(Subs): 17. James Graham, 18. Bryn Hargreaves, 20. Scott Moore, 31. Chris Dean.

Salford City Reds:

1. Karl Fitzpatrick; 2. David Hodgson, 3. Kevin McGuinness, 4. Aaron Moule, 30. Richie Barnett; 5. John Wilshere, 7. Luke Robinson; 31. Phillip Leuluai, 9. Malcolm Alker, 10. Michael Korkidas, 19. Stuart Littler, 12. Ian Sibbit, 23. Jordan.

(Subs) 6. Luke Dorn, 14. Paul Highton, 20. David Gower, 21. Stephen Nash.

Friday 17th Aug 2007, 8:00pm Attendance: 5031
	Vs
Salford Reds	Vs	Saints
20		32

Results

Salford Reds 20 - 32 Saints