SAINTS had their recent good form halted as they went down 22-14 to Salford Red Devils.
Tries from Alex Walmsley and Ryan Morgan almost overturned a 14-0 second half disadvantage, only for a late Michael Dobson effort to seal the points for the hosts.
Saints battled hard after losing Theo Fages on the first set of the game but weren’t as fluid as in recent weeks.
The stand-off never returned to the pitch after going off with concussion and that forced Keiron Cunningham to reshuffle his side.
Saints seemed to weather that early disruption to have the best of the early stages before Dobson put Salford ahead with the boot.
The visitors responded with a couple of kicks to force Salford to come out of their own 20 but it took until the 35th minute for the tryline to be eventually broken.
Sadly, it came the way of the Devils.
Mark Percival was collared for crossing and on the resultant set Craig Kopczak ploughed over the line.
From the restart, Salford knocked on but Saints couldn’t hammer home their advantage despite securing back to back penalties.
8-0 to the home side at the break.
Saints forced an error from Salford on their very first set of the second half but failed to execute their play.
And to compound matters, the hosts then went up the other end of the field and extended their lead.
Kopczak made the break through the middle and Dobson finished it off.
Saints finally broke through on the 50 minute mark.
Kyle Amor went close thanks to the good work of James Roby, and then the mercurial number nine fed Walmsley for his third of the season.
Jon Wilkin and the big forward almost scored on Saints next set – and it took a wonder tackle from ex-Saint Mark Flanagan to stop Ryan Morgan on the left hand side.
A try was always coming through and it did on the hour as the returning Lomax put Ryan Morgan over in the corner.
Michael Dobson extended the host’s lead with a penalty two minutes later and it proved crucial as on 70 minutes Robert Lui was given 10 minutes for interference after the ball was kicked dead.
It kept Saints at arm’s length and despite Walmsley being held up over the line, they couldn’t make the extra man count.
Dobson then crossed for his second after Saints made a hash of a kick to the corner.
There was a final flourish from Saints as Lomax bagged a superb try but they’d left themselves with little time to cross again.
Match Summary:
Devils:
Tries: Kopczak, Dobson (2),
Goals: Dobson (4 from 4), O’Brien (1 from 1)
Saints:
Tries: Walmsley, Morgan, Lomax
Goals: Percival (1 from 3)
Penalties Awarded:
Devils: 9
Saints: 13
HT: 8-0
FT: 22-14
REF: James Child
ATT: 3,640
Teams:
Devils:
1. Gareth O’Brien; 21. Gregory Johnson, 22. Kris Welham, 3. Josh Jones, 2. Justin Carney; 6. Robert Lui, 7. Michael Dobson; 14. Lama Tasi, 9. Logan Tomkins, 23. Lee Mossop, 11. Ben Murdoch Masila, 10. George Griffin, 13. Mark Flanagan.
Subs: 8. Craig Kopczak, 17. Adam Walne, 20. Kristian Brining, 29. Todd Carney.
Saints:
1. Jonny Lomax; 21. Jack Owens, 3. Ryan Morgan, 4. Mark Percival, 2. Tommy Makinson; 6. Theo Fages, 7. Matty Smith; 8. Alex Walmsley, 9. James Roby, 14. Luke Douglas, 36. Zeb Taia, 13. Louie McCarthy-Scarsbrook, 12. Jon Wilkin.
Subs: 10. Kyle Amor, 15. Adam Walker, 17. Tommy Lee, 18. Dominique Peyroux.
