Salford 13-12 Castleford: Tigers suffer first defeat

Match stats

Salford tries: Murdoch-Masila (31,54)
Salford conversions/penalties: O'Brien (54,67)
Salford drop goal: O'Brien (76) 

Castleford tries: Gale (5), Minikin (43)
Castleford conversions: Gale (5, 43)

Match report

A drop goal from Gareth O'Brien (pictured) four minutes from the end of an absorbing match enabled Salford to inflict a first defeat of the season on Castleford and knock them off the top of the table.

It was O'Brien's golden-point drop goal that kept the Red Devils in Super League last October and the full-back produced another telling one-pointer to clinch a 13-12 victory at the AJ Bell Stadium.

Salford achieved their thrilling victory without the services of Australian half-back Todd Carney, who is still waiting to make his debut after being an unused substitute, with coach Ian Watson loathe to disrupt his half-backs with the game in the balance.

Castleford led for most of the match but injuries took a toll in the wet conditions and they failed to build on a 12-4 lead.

Daryl Powell's men made the perfect start when Salford winger Greg Johnson was bamboozled by Luke Gale's high kick that swirled in the wind and the England scrum-half followed up to touch down for a fifth-minute try.

Gale converted his own score but it quickly became apparent that the Tigers would be made to work much harder for any more spoils.

The Red Devils demonstrated a mean streak in defence and, with Robert Lui showing some nice touches with the ball, the visitors were forced to defend for long periods to keep their lead intact.

Having kept Widnes scoreless in their previous match, Castleford went another half-hour without conceding a point until pressure finally told when Lui got second-rower Ben Murdoch-Masila romping through a gap in their defence for the first of his two tries.

O'Brien was unable to add the conversion, though, and the Tigers thought they had increased their lead on the stroke of half-time when skipper Michael Shenton sent left winger Greg Eden over at the corner only for the try to be ruled out for a forward pass.

The visitors were not denied early in the second half, however, when Salford centre Junior Sa'u lost the ball in the tackle 40 metres from his own line and right winger Greg Minikin took Jake Webster's pass to force his way over for his ninth try of the season despite the close attention of three defenders.

Gale knocked over the touchline conversion to make it 12-4 but Minikin was forced out of the action after being hurt in the act of scoring and Salford produced a strong response to keep themselves well in the game.

Full-back Zak Hardaker failed to deal with a high kick and in the next set Murdoch-Masila juggled with the ball before getting into his stride 15 metres out from the line and proved unstoppable as he tore over for his second try, which O'Brien converted.

Castleford were forced into a reshuffle after also losing Webster to injury, with Ben Roberts switched to full-back and Hardaker moving onto the wing, and it started to go wrong for them in the closing stages.

O'Brien levelled the scores with a 67th-minute penalty and, after Eden had come up with a fumble deep inside his own half, kept his nerve with another crucial drop goal. 

Match reaction

Castleford coach Daryl Powell admitted his side did not deserve to win:  "We were poor. I don't think we ever really got our game together. It was our first real tight assignment and we came up short.

"I thought Salford were superb, they defended well and came up with a smart game plan. We didn't deserve to win. We tried to play the conditions way too much. It was a bit of an arm wrestle and they just edged it.

"There's quite a few lessons for us to learn. We need to move on and some players have some wising up to do.

"We were pretty unrecognisable today, although it doesn't help when you are having to move people around." 

On Greg Minikin's injury:  "We think his shoulder came out and went back in pretty quickly - hopefully it's not too bad." 

Salford coach Ian Watson on Gareth O'Brien and his side's team work: "Someone has just asked if anyone else can drop goals in this club ... while he's knocking them over, he's happy to take that pressure on.

"He's stepped up to the fore but I think, for the bigger picture, the team executed everything we spoke about during in the week.

"I thought our middles were phenomenal against a pack that teams have been struggling to handle.

"All season so far we've been really good in parts and not been seeing those games off but that has set a little bit of a standard, that we can mix it with the best." 

On new signing Todd Carney being left on the bench:  "At 12-10 I was thinking about putting him on because he could give Castleford something different to look at but Rob Lui and 'Dobbo' were already in the game at that time and to pull them out would have been a tough call.

"It was one of those decisions I had to make and when 'Gaz' put the drop goal over I pulled him and I've just spoken to him and he's good. He's just pleased we got the win."