Long injury caps a bad night at the office for Saints (From St Helens Star)

Long injury caps a bad night at the office for Saints

11:07am Thursday 9th July 2009

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Salford 20 Saints 10.

THE warning signs that Saints were due an off day had been brewing but few expected that to come at the hands of Reds side struggling near the foot of the table.

Although Saints sorely missed injured skipper Keiron Cunningham, experienced centre Matt Gidley, lynchpin Leon Pryce and the industrious Jon Wilkin they still had the personnel available to tackle the equally depleted Salfordians.

They were simply out-enthused and essentially out-muscled by a hardworking, streetwise pack that grew in confidence from the fortunate start they had.

Saints’ subdued forwards seemed unusually half-hearted in the first period and appeared incapable of making real headway and breaking the line.

Although Paul Clough grafted hard and Maurie Fa’asavalu tried to pep them up, James Graham and Tony Puletua were unusually off colour.

Graham increasingly finds himself cast as an old fashioned first receiver ball distributor – a role which he fulfils nowhere near as effectively as the straightforward ‘hit it up’ job he has done so well during the past three seasons.

To compound Saints’ misery James Roby’s strength from dummy half was stymied by a combination of an incredibly slow ruck and a degree of fatigue from having to start and stay on for the best part of the first hour.

Nothing went right for Saints on the night and the top hat was put on the evening when Sean Long’s jaw was smashed as he moved in to tackle Salford’s Mark Henry midway through the second half.

It was immediately obvious that is was a bad injury, with the veteran scrum half covering his face and then signalling to the bench to take him off.

Although Saints probably deserved to lose, they nevertheless created enough chances to win it but bombed them with some awful handling.

Salford, on the other hand, were incredibly jammy and had a 12-0 lead from two kicks that bounced perfectly for the attacking side.

Jeremy Smith’s grubber completely outfoxed Paul Wellens to allow scrum half Stefan Ratchford to steal in for the first touchdown.

Their second try was even more bizarre, with Ratchford hitting the post padding with his smartly placed punt.

The ball rebounded into the arms of the advancing full back John Wilshere who swiftly shovelled the ballto the supporting Ratchford.

Wilshere goaled both tries and Salford grew a leg with a series of swift passes resulting in centre Darrell Goulding crossing out on the left to give Reds had a 16-0 lead with less than a quarter of the game gone.

Saints had their chances to get into the game, but Maurie Fa’asavalu and Kyle Eastmond both knocked on in promising positions.

Fa’asavalu also lost the ball trying to get it over the line, but Saints’ best chance of the half saw Ade Gardner lose the ball in the process of scoring.

Saints posted an early response after the restart when Sean Long pierced the line and turned the ball back inside for the supporting Andrew Dixon to cross for his first senior try.

Eastmond’s goal cut the deficit to 10 points and when Salford were reduced to 12 men when Smith was sin-binned for swinging at Wellens, Saints must have fancied their chances.

In what was the potential game changing moment, Eastmond raced downfield, turning the ball back inside to debutant Jamie Ellis, who with a clear field ahead, lost the ball.

Saints were hit by the sucker punch with Mark Henry touching down another kick in the corner after a ponderous response from Gardner gave the advancing Red the advantage. Although Saints had the last word when Ellis’ precision attacking kick wide was collected by Francis Meli to touch down, it was too little too late.

Salford: Wilshere; Henry, Littler, Goulding, McGilvray; Smith, Ratchford; Cashmere, Alker, Stapleton, Adamson, Sidlow, Swain. Subs: Leuluai, Jewitt, Walton, Paul.

Saints: Wellens; Gardner, Flannery, Dean, Meli; Eastmond, Long; Graham, Roby, Hargreaves, Ashurst, Puletua, Gilmour. Subs: Fa’asavalu, Ellis, Dixon, Clough.

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