Leigh Leopards ease past battling Salford Red Devils

SALFORD RED DEVILS 6 LEIGH LEOPARDS 28
DAVE PARKINSON, Salford Community Stadium, Saturday

LEIGH made sure there was no happy ending for their former boss Paul Rowley in his 100th game in charge of Salford.

While the Leopards’ sixth win of the season came as no surprise, the embattled Red Devils coach can be pleased with a second half that saw them go toe-to-toe.

Leigh had disruption in the warm-up with Keanan Brand picking up a calf injury. AJ Towse came in on the wing, and scored one of two tries in the opening eight minutes.

Within the first 90 seconds a dropped ball from Sam Davis heaped pressure on the Red Devils and Lachlan Lam moved the ball right for Andy Badrock to stride through for his first Super League try.

Ben McNamara couldn’t goal and was also off-target when neat interplay and a pin-point pass from Bailey Hodgson saw Towse go over in the right corner.

Salford came up with a sparkling break in the 16th minute as Jayden Nikorima sliced through on the left, but a spirited chase from Robbie Mulhern saw him tackle Ben Hellewell from behind and he knocked-on.

A sumptuous grubber kick from Lam created a third try for the Leopards, Darnell McIntosh pouncing out wide to increase the advantage to 0-12 though unable to convert.

Salford rallied over the following 15 minutes with Joe Mellor making a couple of incisive runs at the defence, Esan Marsters proving difficult to hold and Nathan Connell grounded five metres from the line.

Leigh attacked with renewed vigour as Lam sent Jack Hughes into a hole and he in turn put Badrock over for his second try from 15 metres.

Former Salford favourite O’Brien added his first goal after becoming the third man to try the kicking duties, and the Leopards led 0-18 at half-time.

Salford had the better of the first five minutes of the second half, which included a disallowed try for Harvey Makin after Nikorima knocked-on a Mellor kick.

But when they lost the ball on their own 20, Leigh punished them with Matt Davis going over for the Leopards’ fifth try, goaled by O’Brien.

Good defence from the hosts kept Leigh at bay before the hour and when Nikorima split the line a try looked on, but Jake Thewlis couldn’t hold the pass and Leigh had a let off.

Salford had their reward in the 62nd minute when Nikorima broke the line again and Joe Shorrocks supported to go under the posts for a try converted by Kai Morgan.

In the last minute, Leigh increased their advantage with a typical tight finish from Josh Charnley in the corner.

GAMESTAR: Bailey Hodgson was rock solid all night at the back for Leigh.

GAMEBREAKER: Leigh were never in any danger after scoring their fifth try after half-time.

HIGHLIGHT REEL: The try for AJ Towse came courtesy of some fine work down the right.

ALBERT GOLDTHORPE POINTS
3 pts Bailey Hodgson (Leigh)
2 pts Jayden Nikorima (Salford)
1 pt Lachlan Lam (Leigh)

MATCHFACTS
RED DEVILS
27 Kai Morgan
28 Nathan Connell
17 Esan Marsters
45 Jonny Vaughan
48 Jake Thewlis
6 Jayden Nikorima
9 Joe Mellor
18 Jack Ormondroyd
21 Sam Davis
49 Harvey Makin
25 Ben Hellewell
13 Joe Shorrocks
24 Harvey Wilson
Subs (all used)
19 Justin Sangaré
41 Finley Yates
43 George Hill
50 Toby Warren (D)
Also in 19-man squad
1 Ryan Brierley
30 Tiaki Chan

Tries: Shorrocks (62)
Goals: Morgan 1/1

LEOPARDS
24 Bailey Hodgson
29 AJ Towse
2 Darnell McIntosh
21 Andy Badrock
5 Josh Charnley
6 Gareth O’Brien
7 Lachlan Lam
8 Owen Trout
22 Ben McNamara
10 Robbie Mulhern
20 Ethan O’Neill
12 Jack Hughes
13 Isaac Liu
Subs (all used)
16 Matt Davis
19 Louis Brogan
17 Brad Dwyer
23 Nathan Wilde
Also in 21-man squad
11 Frankie Halton
14 Aaron Pene
18 Keanan Brand
32 Joe Ofahengaue