Red hot Devils keep play-off dream alive

SALFORD kept their hopes of a Betfred Super League play-off spot alive with a hard-earned 33-16 win over Huddersfield in intense heat at the AJ Bell Stadium.

Pau Rowley’s side raced into a 26-6 half-time lead with tries from Ken Sio, Joe Burgess, Kallum Watkins, Ryan Brierley and Tim Lafai but had to withstand a determined Huddersfield fightback after the break.

Salford also had to survive for 10 minutes without their playmaker Brodie Croft after he was shown the yellow card on the stroke of half-time.

A brace of tries from Sam Hewitt and one from Chris McQueen, along with two goals from Olly Russell, kept the third-placed Giants in the hunt, but the win means Salford are still just a point behind sixth-placed Leeds as the regular season reaches the final stretch.

Salford were without Dan Sarginson through injury but welcomed back Harvey Livett and Tyler Dupree in the pack. Sam Luckley was missing through the head injury protocol.

Huddersfield’s former England prop Chris Hill started for the first time since suffering an injury in the early stages of the Challenge Cup final defeat to Wigan in May.

Huddersfield had already beaten Salford twice in 2022, but they were rocked by a stunning start by the home side as they scored three tries in the first 12 minutes.

The pressure from the home side was relentless and they soon posted a third try. Croft threaded a kick through and Watkins hacked the ball on again before winning the race for the bouncing ball, touching down before Sneyd converted to make it 16-0.

Huddersfield had struggled to get a foothold in the game so they were grateful to their secondrower McQueen, who stole the ball one-on-one from Burgess on his own 20-metre line and raced to the corner.

But rather than signal the start of a Huddersfield fightback, Salford replied with two tries in six minutes.

On the stroke of halftime, Salford were reduced to 12 men when Croft was sent to the sinbin for obstruction. Salford were struggling to find their fluency of the first half, but Sneyd sent over a penalty from 40 metres to give them a 12-point lead with 16 minutes to play. And they saw out the game with a Sneyd drop goal before Livett touched down their sixth try of the match.

Salford coach Paul Rowley said: “It was important to stay in the pack. Everyone is saying they don’t look at the league, but, the truth is, we’re all looking at the league. “Beating a team above us in the table is important and Huddersfield have been very, very consistent.

“Every week it feels like the other results don’t go our way, but we just have a chuckle about it. We don’t let it get us down.”

It was important to stay in the pack... beating a team above us in the table is important Paul Rowley