Salford Reds come good to give Hull the blues

A fantastic performance from a wonderfully committed Salford enabled them to register only their second win of the season when they defeated Hull 27-20. Their coach, Shaun McRae, who saw his side register a 100% completion rate in the second half, said: "It's a game of possession and position. The second half was probably as good as we've played and we defended pretty well." Salford got off to the best possible start when Adam Sidlow crashed over after only two minutes. Dan Holdsworth converted, but the visitors drew level 10 minutes later when Sean Long collected his own kick to touch down and Danny Tickle added the conversion. The Reds regained the lead when Karl Fitzpatrick touched down after Steve Tyrer's clever kick infield, with Holdsworth making it 12-6 with the conversion. But then Salford began giving away penalties. After one such infringement Kirk Yeaman plucked Long's high kick to the corner out of the air for Hull's second try. Just before half-time, Hull took the lead when Tyrer had coughed up the ball in front of his own posts and the rampaging Epalahame Lauaki proved unstoppable near the line. Tickle's conversion put them 16-12 ahead at the interval, but three minutes into the second half the home side drew level thanks to Jodie Broughton's strong finish in the corner. Fitzpatrick then claimed his second try after Tyrer had batted back Holdsworth's high kick to the corner, but Reece Lyne made it 20-20 going into the final quarter when he touched down. Broughton then eased the home side ahead by squeezing in at the corner flag, with Holdsworth converting from the touchline to set up a nailbiting final 18 minutes. With only six seconds remaining, his drop goal clinched Salford's first home win. Richard Agar, the Hull coach, was typically frank in his assessment. "We showed no respect whatsoever and the 5-0 penalty count was an indicator of just how far off this performance we were."