Hull Kingston Rovers beat Salford 34-28 in Super League
Last Updated: 01/07/15 6:59pm
Dane Tilse scored his first Super League try as Challenge Cup semi-finalists Hull Kingston Rovers continued their impressive home form by beating Salford 34-28 to haul themselves out of the bottom four for the first time since April.
Tilse's touchdown 10 minutes into the second half sparked a purple patch for Rovers, who turned a 10-8 interval deficit into a commanding 26-10 lead and then held off a dramatic late fightback from Salford to secure a precious two points.
The Red Devils are now resigned to finishing in the bottom four after losing their game in hand and will be hoping the arrival of new director of rugby Tim Sheens in a week's time will provide them with a boost ahead of the Super 8s.
Salford, who had Adrian Morley making the 550th appearance of his career, dominated the early part of the game but it was against the run of play when the home side opened the scoring on 13 minutes.
Exciting scrum-half Albert Kelly caught out the Red Devils' defence by running the ball on the last tackle and his precision kick to the corner was pounced on by winger Ben Cockayne.
Rovers stand-off Maurice Blair then had a try disallowed for a knock-on and Salford went in front with two tries in nine minutes.
Second-rower Cory Paterson, one of four Rovers ex-players in the visitors' ranks, stole the ball in a one-on-one tackle on the unfortunate full-back Kieran Dixon and fed the alert winger Mason Caton-Brown.
Josh Griffin's goal made it 6-4 and the Red Devils extended their lead when Dobson's cut-out pass got winger Ben Jones-Bishop over at the other corner for the first of his two tries.
When Dixon fumbled another of Dobson's high kicks that caught in the swirling wind, it was the signal for coach Chris Chester to switch him away from the firing line and he instantly made his mark on the wing, finishing decisively for the Robins' second try.
If Salford shaded the first half, they went walkabout in the third quarter as Rovers turned the game on its head with three tries in a devastating eight-minute spell.
Hooker Shaun Lunt got Tilse crashing over with a short pass from dummy half and two minutes later burst clear to send centre Kris Welham over.
The game was completely transformed when Blair charged through some flimsy defence for a solo try and Mantellato's third goal made it 26-10.
Before the home fans could celebrate, however, they were forced to endure a tense finish after stand-off Theo Fages created two tries in five minutes for forwards Jordan Walne and ex-Hull KR man Scott Taylor.
Griffin converted both to cut the deficit to just four points to set up a frantic finish.
Mantellato put some more daylight between the teams with a penalty but it was all square when Fages combined with Chase to get Jones-Bishop over for his second try eight minutes from the end and Griffin kicked his fourth goal.
Before either side could think about a drop goal, Kelly pounced with the winning try, taking advantage of a wicked bounce from the restart to regather and touch down.