Super League: Salford City Reds edge past Catalan Dragons
Catalan Dragons slumped to a fourth loss in five games as Salford claimed a 16-12 home win in their Super League clash.
Last Updated: 19/07/13 10:54pm
The hosts produced a battling defensive show to seal a hard-fought victory by three tries to two, with Andrew Dixon, Danny Williams and Stephen Wild crossing the line for the victors.
Elliott Whitehead and Remi Casty both scored tries for the Dragons, who are now three points adrift of the top four.
The Reds started well and swept into a fourth-minute lead after a Williams surge allowed skipper Martin Gleeson to link up smartly to send Dixon over in the corner. Sneyd added the extras from out wide.
But Gleeson suffered a knee injury after creating the try and had to hobble off, being replaced by Ashley Gibson.
As the Dragons struggled to break down a resolute defence, Lee Gaskell almost put Salford further ahead when he was held close to the line.
The Reds, who had lost their last three home matches against Bradford, Wakefield and St Helens, then opted to run two kickable penalties as they stepped up the tempo.
They did not add to their advantage until after half-time, Darryl Millard fumbling Sneyd's kick and Gibson putting Williams over in the corner to make it 10-0.
But Whitehead raced on to Scott Dureau's pass after 54 minutes to score near the posts, with Thomas Bosc landing the conversion to reduce the gap to four points.
Salford replied with Wild latching onto Sneyd's kick to extend the lead to 16-6 with a converted try, but Casty crashed over to peg the Reds back again.
Dragons centre Vincent Duport had a try disallowed for a forward pass in a nerve-jangling finale, with referee Thierry Alibert placing several players on report following a mass brawl two minutes from time.
