Salford head coach Richard Marshall was annoyed by the penalties his side gave away in the loss at home to Castleford; "We have to get the penalties out of our game," he said. "I'm sick to death of talking about penalties"
Friday 30 April 2021 23:26, UK
Richard Marshall blasted Salford Red Devils' discipline as they slumped to a 28-18 defeat at the hands of Castleford Tigers on Friday night.
Marshall's men fell to their fourth Super League defeat of the season and had captain Lee Mossop sin-binned in the second half for a late hit.
Salford have won just one game in the competition in 2021 - against promoted Leigh Centurions last week - and the coach made no secret of the fact he was fed up with his side's tendency to give away penalties.
"We're bitterly disappointed to lose that game," Marshall said. "I'm sick of our ill-discipline, I'm sick of it.
"We don't want to be an unbalanced team - some of our penalties were stupid. I thought there were a few harsh calls in the game, but there's no excuses.
"Some were down to a bit of tackle technique - we had a couple of swinging arms. I'm not quite sure, I think the penalty count was 9-4 [to Castleford].
"I thought we didn't get a fair rub of the green on a few of the decisions. But at the same time, we have to be accountable for our performance.
"We have to get the penalties out of our game. I'm sick to death of talking about penalties."
The score was 14-12 at half-time to the visitors at the AJ Bell Stadium and the result in the balance until the final 20 minutes when Castleford pulled away.
Despite the defeat, Marshall was generally pleased with his side's overall performance and detected signs of improvement.
"I'm not too despondent," Marshall said. "There was a lot more in that performance that we could walk away with our heads held high about.
"Our first half was really good, we went toe to toe, but we couldn't sustain that performance in the second half. But we'll learn from that game."
Castleford head coach Daryl Powell praised the display of Danny Richardson after the half-back impressively steered the Tigers to victory.
Richardson finished the game with an individual haul of 12 points after kicking six from seven attempts, and also claimed a try assist after working hard in training to improve his game.
"It was good to see Danny play with some confidence, have a hand in tries and his goal-kicking was really good," Powell said.
"He's had a couple of injuries, which have been hard for him, and he's had a few poor games, but it's going to happen. He's still young.
"He's working on his game and he just needs to keep working and building his confidence. He's a quality player."
