SAINTS can thank loose forward Morgan Knowles for saving Friday's game at home to Salford.

They had nudged their way ahead in a tight, but untidy game and all they had to do was see out the closing minute.

However, Jack Welsby pushed a pass that was snaffled up by Salford's half back Chris Atkin who sped away like  a jackrabbit.

All seemed lost - the game, the league leadership and a winning home record against Salford dating back to 1980 - but the international loose forward had other ideas.

Bernard Platt captured the sequence of that crucial tackle.

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And having raced 80 metres, with just 10 more to go to the whitewash, Knowles launched himself with a Superman dive that Clark Kent would have been proud of to haul the Red Devil down.

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It was undoubtedly the matchwinner - even though the visitors did have one more attack before the hooter.     

Coach Kristian Woolf praised his loose forward's chase - even if he was not impressed by the passage of play that led to it.

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He said: "It was an outstanding play by Morgan Knowles to play 80 minutes and produce that sort of play to win the game.

"It was an outstanding chase.

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"I wasn't quite sure who had the ball but when he took it he was gone - it looked that way because we were all looking the other way.

"It is hard to turn and chase but that is exactly what Morgan did. He had to turn, chase and really stay at that chase - it was an outstanding effort."

 

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