Good start for Marshall

SALFORD returned to action with an impressive 20-6 victory over Wigan Warriors in their only pre-season friendly.

The visitors were without Australian trio Jackson Hastings, Bevan French and Jai Field, while Red Devils captain Lee Mossop sat out the fixture through suspension.

It was the first time Salford had taken to the field under Richard Marshall and the new boss enjoyed what he saw.

“I was really impressed, I thought our defensive attitude and effort was up there,” he said. “I thought how we turned the ball over and where we turned the ball over was up there.

“I could certainly see some of the things that we’d spoken about and implemented in pre-season out on the field. But it was a friendly. Let’s not get carried away, there’s still a lot to do, but from a coaching first hit-out point of view, we’re really pleased with that.”

The Red Devils opened the scoring when Kallum Watkins was the first to react to Tui Lolohea’s short kick, hacking on before touching down over the tryline.

The Warriors levelled when Sam Powell scooted over.

Salford looked strong in attack, particularly down their right, and took a 12-6 lead into the break when Ken Sio raced in to collect another smart kick from Lolohea.

Morgan Escare crossed for his first try in Red Devils colours against his former employers, before Krisnan Inu demonstrated his power from close range, holding off three defenders to fight his way over the line.

“We want to keep everybody on their toes. Ryan Lannon is a rightsided player, but I’ve come in and said ‘let’s have a look at you on the left’,” said Marshall. “We don’t want to pigeon-hole players. I’ve said this from day one, we want players who are multi-faceted, can offload, step off both feet and tackle with both shoulders.”