A resilient Salford Red Devils bounced back with a hard-fought victory over Castleford Tigers this afternoon.

It was a scorching hot day and Head Coach, Paul Rowley was able to field exciting new halfback, Jayden Nikorima for the first time.

Our super Samoan, Tim Lafai was also back in action after a hamstring injury and added some real punch at centre, with Loghan Lewis also an option off the interchange bench.

Both sides went set-for-set in the opening exchanges, with a 40/20 effort from Marc Sneyd the nearest either side came to gaining real territory.

Deon Cross was having some joy on the left edge and a few half-breaks found the Reds within range to test the Tigers defence.

The returning Lafai was inches from breaking the deadlock after some quick, incisive play left, but was held-up well by multiple Cas bodies.

Just minutes later, Cross touched down in the corner after Lafai’s flick pass, but referee Chris Kendall signalled for a forward pass and halted the celebrations.

Cas hadn’t had much to celebrate during the first 15 minutes, but errors from Lafai and Joe Shorrocks – who both lost the ball in contact – pushed the visitors upfield.

Joe Westerman tested the line and threw a pass to Rowan Milnes, who neatly dabbed a grubber into the path of Jason Qareqare to open the scoring.

Salford tried to up the intensity from the restart, introducing Wright and Lewis into proceedings. The former landing a fantastic shot with his first involvement.

Sneyd forced a drop-out with a grubber and the Reds continued to build some pressure. From the resulting set, Sneyd’s soft pass and Nene Macdonald’s perfect line sent the centre crashing through to slam down.

The same source thought he was over again when he rose above Jacob Miller to claim and ground, but despite an on-field call of try, the video referee adjudged the PNG international knocked-on before regathering the ball.

A big moment in the game came on 34 minutes, when Cas’ Liam Horne was sent to the sin bin for a late shot.

The Reds capitalised on the numbers from a scrum play and Ryan Brierley was the man to slide over on the right edge, after selling a pass to Ethan Ryan.

A dominant start to the second forty came without any real reward. Back-to-back drop-outs and a genius bit of footwork from Sneyd almost unlocked the door, but Cas survived.

It was the visitors who were next on the board in fact; via Qareqare again after some quick hands on the right.

Two in the space of five minutes from Cas threatened to turn the tide. Back-rower, Elie El Zakhem this time the man who darted out of dummy-half and through the Salford line to score.

On a three-match winning run, confidence was clearly high and the Tigers came forward again from the restart trying to pile on the pain.

However, this time it was a bit of intelligent thinking from Ryan who spotted Tex Hoy’s attempt of a cut-out pass, intercepted and raced 70 metres to score.

Sneyd nudged us in front from the tee and Cas’ problems went from bad to worse when Sylvester Namo saw yellow for a high tackle.

Once again, the Reds took advantage and Ollie Partington crashed onto a short ball to slide over. A well-deserved try on what was a fine afternoon for the Club’s and Sky Sports’ Player of the Match.

The gap got bigger minutes later when the Reds scored a vintage Rowley try from inside our own half.

Sneyd got it going and Brierley’s expert run into the line pierced a gap to flick an offload to Lafai. The centre charged downfield and found Chris Hankinson inside him to race over and all-but confirm the points.

There was consolation for Luis Johnson under the sticks and Milnes closed the gap to eight with the conversion, but the Red Devils held on to a crucial and hard-fought two points.

MATCH FACTS:

Salford line-up: Ryan Brierley, Ethan Ryan, Nene Macdonald, Tim Lafai, Deon Cross, Jayden Nikorima, Marc Sneyd, Brad Singleton, Joe Shorrocks, Joe Bullock, Sam Stone, Kallum Watkins, Ollie Partington.

Interchanges: Shane Wright, Chris Hankinson, Joe Mellor, Loghan Lewis.

Tries: Nene Macdonald, Ryan Brierley, Ethan Ryan, Ollie Partington, Chris Hankinson.

Conversions: Marc Sneyd (5/5)

Castleford Tigers line-up: Tex Hoy, Innes Senior, Alex Mellor, Corey Hall, Jason Qareqare, Rowan Milnes, Jacob Miller, George Griffin, Liam Horne, Muizz Mustapha, George Lawler, Elie El Zakhem, Joe Westerman.

Interchanges: Cain Robb, Sylvester Namo, Luis Johnson, Sam Hall.

Tries: Jason Qareqare (2), Elie El Zakhem, Luis Johnson.

Conversions: Rowan Milnes (3/4)

HT: 12-6