Salford Red Devils toughed it out in a close games against St Helens to record their third consecutive Betfred Super League victory with a 22-14 win.
Josh Jones came back into the side in place of an injured Junior Sa’u, as the Red Devils looked to build in the 46-10 dismantling of Widnes the week before.
Saints came into the game also looking to record a third consecutive win, sitting two points behind the Red Devils in the league table.
The first half was an extremely tight affair with both teams going for set for set for large periods, and neither team able to break the deadlock early on.
Salford would eventually take the lead, when Michael Dobson scored a penalty from directly in front of the posts to give Salford a 2-0 lead.
With 5 minutes left before half time, Salford extended their lead, with Craig Kopczak scoring from close range, and Dobson converting.
St Helens came straight back at the Red Devils and put pressure on the Salford line before half time, but the Salford goal line defence was resolute.
The Red Devils started the second half on fire, with Dobson finishing of a superb flowing Salford move to score under the posts, and converted his own score to push Salford to to a 14-0 lead.
St Helens then staged something of a fight back with Alex Walmsley and Ryan Morgan scoring to pull them back to within 4 points.
Salford extended their lead through a Gareth O’Brien penalty, and then came the defining moment of the game, Saint Helens failed to deal with a Todd Carney kick and Dobson forced his way over to give Salford a 22-10 lead.
With minutes left in the game, St Helens overcame a resolute Salford defence to score in the corner, but the missed conversion left them a mountain to high to climb.
Despite being reduced to 12 men for the last 10 minutes with Rob Lui in the sin bin, Salford saw the game out to record another good win in front of a vocal The Salford Stadium crowd.
Attentions now turn to next Friday as the Red Devils travel to Hull FC.
Full time: Salford Red Devils 22 Saint Helens 14
Salford Red Devils: O’Brien, J.Carney, Jones, Welham, Johnson, Lui, Dobson, Mossop, Tomkins, Tasi, Murdoch-Masila, Griffin, Flanagan, Walne, Kopczak, Brining, T.Carney
