Cup was Salford’s Challenge initially

SALFORD have the Super League trophy within their grasp but coach Ian Watson has revealed the Challenge Cup was the piece of silverware they really had their sights on at the start of the season.

Because of the small size of the squad he put together on a shoestring budget, Watson says Wembley was a more realistic target but a secondround home defeat by Hull KR in May forced them to re-adjust their aims.

A run of three straight defeats then put Watson’s men in relegation trouble, just four points above bottom club London Broncos, but they lost just two of their last 12 matches of the regular season to secure a third-placed finish.

Victory over Wigan in last Friday’s final eliminator clinched a maiden Grand Final and now only St Helens stand in their way of the big prize.

“We asked the players in pre-season to get together as a group and discuss what they thought about what we could achieve and they all came back positive, saying we could win something,” said Watson, 42, who was not born when Salford last won the league in 1976.

“The one we highlighted actually was the Challenge Cup because we thought, being realistic, we only had a small squad and, with Super League being over 29 rounds and the play-offs after that, this might be the tougher challenge. In the Challenge you don’t have as many games and they’re one-off fixtures.

“Obviously we fell out of the Challenge Cup and we had to re-focus our goals and all that was left was the actual Super League Grand Final.”