SAINTS had a night to forget as they lost 44-10 at Salford.
The Red Devils ran in eight tries to hand Keiron Cunningham’s men their first loss of the campaign.
Saints responded through Alex Walmsley and Adam Swift but they played second fiddle throughout.
The visitors got off to the worst possible start when, on only their second set of the game, they conceded.
On the last, Dobson put the ball high and Jack Owens failed to gather.
Salford’s scrum half duly took possession of the loose ball and put it on a plate for Greg Johnson to score in the corner.
Josh Griffin with the extras.
Craig Kopczak then crossed on the home side’s next foray into the Saints half; a simple pass and a plough over under the posts.
And on 11 minutes Salford dominance was underlined through Robert Lui who flew over after another Saints’ error.
Alex Walmsley was duly brought into the fray and made an instant impact.
His first carry won his side a penalty and his second saw him take four over the line for a much needed try.
But Michael Dobson slotted over a penalty at the quarter way mark to make it a 14 point game.
Phil Joseph was denied a score by the video referee on 25 minutes, before Saints broke through down the field through Adam Swift,
He couldn’t take advantage and worse was to come as Luke Walsh was given 10 minutes for a professional foul.
Ironically, the visitors looked galvanised being down to 12 men and put in some solid drives on the Salford defence.
Andre Savelio in particular was unlucky not to gain points after a mazy run.
But Saints were punished on Salford’s very next break. Numbers on the right hand side saw Niall Evalds cross and on their next set Robert Lui capped off a superb half for the home side.
The second half started as bad as the first as Adam Walne ghosted over after just two minutes.
Swift saved a certain score three minutes later before Walsh did the same.
Owens then showed good feet on 52 minutes to evade the Devils kick chase but three minutes later it was too easy and a simple dummy saw Dobson cross.
Swift pulled one back for Saints following a fine move – but it was mere consolation so early in the second half.
Salford had another one chalked off for a knock on, but the scoreboard operator wasn’t redundant that long as Evalds popped up for his second late on.
Match Summary:
Devils:
Tries: Johnson, Kopczak, Lui (2), Evalds (2), Walne, Dobson
Goals: J. Griffin (2 from 2), Dobson (4 from 6)
Saints:
Tries: Walmsley, Swift
Goals: Walsh (1 from 2)
Penalties:
Devils: 6
Saints: 8
HT: 6-32
FT: 10-44
REF: Richard Silverwood
ATT: TBC
Teams:
Devils:
14. Gareth O’Brien; 2. Justin Carney, 33. Josh Jones, 3. Josh Griffin, 18. Greg Johnson; 6. Robert Lui, 7. Michael Dobson; 8. Craig Kopczak, 9. Tommy Lee, 10. George Griffin, 11. Ben Murdoch-Masila, 13. Mark Flanagan, 21. Ryan Lannon.
Subs: 1. Niall Evalds, 15. Adam Walne, 17. Phil Joseph, 19. Logan Tomkins.
Saints:
22. Jack Owens; 2. Tommy Makinson, 13. Louie McCarthy-Scarsbrook, 4. Mark Percival, 5. Adam Swift; 3. Jordan Turner, 7. Luke Walsh; 10. Kyle Amor, 28. Morgan Knowles, 14. Lama Tasi, 11. Atelea Vea, 12. Jon Wilkin, 17. Luke Thompson.
Subs: 8. Alex Walmsley, 15. Greg Richards, 16. Andre Savelio, 19. Theo Fages.
