Rowley’s pride after Red Devils suffer late heartbreak at Saints
SALFORD coach Paul Rowley said his side deserved more from their late defeat against St Helens on Friday night.
The scores were locked 10-10 as the game entered the final quarter at the Totally Wicked Stadium but two Tommy Makinson penalties got Saints home as they recorded a 14-10 Super League victory.
For Rowley, who saw his side battle admirably, despite a long list of injuries, it was a familiar story having seen them beaten late on by Wigan last Sunday.
He said: “It was very much like the Wigan game. We played really tough tonight and dominated territory. We had a real dig and were resilient.
“At no point were we hanging on
– I thought it was a really tough contest and unfortunately for us, Saints came out on top.
“I think we deserved something out of the game. I thought we had a few harsh calls against us to be honest which you expect away from home.
“It has been a tough schedule for us. We have a lot of respect for Saints as a club and a team and we would have liked to have come here for a full team to pit our wits against them but it wasn’t to be after the tough Easter period.
“With so many players out missing, all I can do is pay tribute to the character of my team.”
Rowley also reported fresh injury concerns over Rhys Williams
and Alex Gerrard.
St Helens coach Kristian Woolf was proud of the way his team “found a way to win” against the battling Red Devils.
Woolf said: “We had a little bit of bad luck and were all over the place but the real positive was that we found a way to win.
“Sometimes you have got to win a bit ugly – that’s what we did tonight and that’s what good teams do. We have come away with two points and that’s the most important thing.
“Salford turned up and chanced their hand. We were a bit ill-disciplined which put us under the pump at different times.”