Salford 50-12 Catalan: Report and reaction as Red Devils claim emotional win

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Match stats: Salford 50-12 Catalan Dragons

Salford tries: O'Brien (6), Jones (12), Welham (22), Evalds (31), Lannon (38), Brinning (42), Lui (54), Flanagan (68), Krasniqi (63)
Goals: Dobson (6, 12, 22, 38, 42, 54, 63) 

Catalans tries: Duport (49), Yaha (79)
Goals: Walsh (49, 79) 

Match report

Salford kept the pressure on Super League leaders Castleford with a hugely impressive 50-12 victory over Catalans Dragons on an emotionally-charged night at the AJ Bell Stadium.

The Red Devils offered fans free admission in exchange for a donation to the fund set up to help victims of the Manchester bomb attack on Monday.

A minute's silence was observed before kick-off while fans held up 'I Love MCR' posters and staged a round of applause in the 22nd minute in tribute to the 22 people killed in the blast only a few miles away at the Manchester Arena.

And as if scripted, Salford scored a try in the 22nd minute - with the try coming from the player in the number 22 shirt, Kris Welham, who was also named man of the match.

Salford went on to record their biggest ever win over the Dragons, scoring nine tries with Michael Dobson converting seven in an utterly dominant display.

Catalans, still without a coach following the sacking of Laurent Frayssinous on Monday, were the last team to beat Salford on Easter Monday - which was also their last win.

But they saw prop Remy Casty sin-binned just five minutes in for a late challenge on Salford full-back Gareth O'Brien, who took almost immediate advantage of his side's extra man as he stepped infield to score a close-range try which Dobson converted.

Salford added a second try with Casty still off the field in the 13th minute. The ball was kept alive on the last tackle and Lama Tasi's well-timed pass got centre Josh Jones in at the corner, Dobson's kick making it 12-0.

Salford were themselves reduced to 12 men moments later when debutant James Hasson caught Dragons full-back Tony Gigot with a high tackle and was shown the yellow card by referee Robert Hicks, but Catalans failed to make any headway against 12 men and instead conceded a third try.

Ben Murdoch-Masila made a powerful drive before the ball was worked right to centre Welham, who dived over. With Dobson adding a third conversion, the home side were in total control at 18-0.

Winger Niall Evalds dashed 20 metres to score the fourth try, Dobson this time hitting the post, and Salford finished the half with the try of the night. Winger Greg Johnson swapped passes with Robert Lui before the ball zipped across the width of the pitch to Ryan Lannon who touched down. Dobson added the goal for a fully deserved 28-0 interval lead.

Things got no better for the Dragons as they conceded another try within three minutes of the restart, Kris Brinning driving over from close range and Dobson converting.

Catalans finally broke their duck in the 49th minute when Vincent Duport went in from close range for a try which Luke Walsh converted.

The try proved only a minor setback for Salford on their way to a sixth successive win. Stand-off Lui was quickest to react to Catalans' crossfield kick and he raced almost the length of the pitch, fending off a couple of would-be tacklers on the way, before touching down in the corner. Dobson converted brilliantly from the touchline to make it 40-6.

Salford added an eighth try with 17 minutes remaining as forward Olsi Krasniqi somehow managed to ground the ball despite having three Catalans defenders wrapped round him. Dobson kicked the extras.

A try from loose forward Mark Flanagan brought up the half-century as he side-stepped over on the back of a superb break by Ben Murdoch-Masila. Fouad Yaha's late try, converted by Walsh, was merely a last-minute consolation.

Match Reaction

Salford coach Ian Watson: "It was important we produced a performance to mark the occasion. We wanted to show the best of Salford.

"The players had been talking during the week about how important this game was. I thought we were great tonight.

"In the first half we did really well and at half-time we talked about not falling off and letting the game getting into a battle, which is what happened at the Magic Weekend game (against Leigh)."

Joint Catalans caretaker coach Michael Monaghan: "The scoreboard doesn't look pretty. It's never enjoyable to be on the end of a scoreline like that.

"As coaches we need to take the score out of it and look at what we did on the field. I thought our young kids showed some promise but there are some things we can move forward with.

"There is plenty of stuff we need to work on and we can't feel sorry for ourselves. We have got to get back to work quickly because we have got another game on Monday (against Hull).

"We had a fair challenge today against a team near the top of the table."