SAINTS coach Keiron Cunningham was pleased with the way his side battled to the top of the table with a 32-12 win – although he admitted that it was at some cost.

The champions lost James Roby with a hand injury early in the first half, followed by Josh Jones at the break and Luke Thompson with a head knock mid way through the second half before seeing Tommy Makinson helped off in the final minutes with an ankle injury.

They had led 24-0 at the break, but Salford made a real game of it with two quick second half tries which threw it back into the melting pot for a while.

Cunningham said: “I expected what they threw at us and that is the strongest Salford team in two or three months.

“Rangi Chase was very influential and troubled us all night.

“With the amount of possession Salford had, even though my team was a bit dumb at times, you have to tilt your cap at how resilient we were defensively.

“To come out and win with 32 points I am very happy with the result, I would have taken that before the game, but it was a very costly one for us.

“You lose James Roby and then Josh Jones at half time, we ended up losing four at the end, and it hurts you.

“Robes’ was a hand injury, it looked like a dislocated finger – the doc seemed to put it back but he didn’t come back so I am not sure. He is another one that we will have to get checked.

“I ended up trying to juggle the team at the end and trying to rotate everyone.

“But I am telling you this tale on the back of a victory rather than a loss so I am quite happy.”

Makinson, who has been in sensational form, will have scans on his ankle.

“I watched it back on video and it did not look pretty but he got up and he is walking about so we will have to suck it and see and get the medical team to look at the scans.

“We’ll get our bumps and bruises out of the way and see where we are as a team for Wigan,” he said.