Salford City Reds 10 Saints 23 OUT-OF-SORTS Saints clung to second place in Super League, but they will face few stiffer hurdles on the road to the Grand Final than that at the Willows on Sunday.

For, despite a 50-point thrashing at Leeds in mid-week, the reborn Reds raised their game magnificently to give Saints the fright of their lives, with the final scoreline hardly a true reflection of a gripping 80 minutes.

Admittedly Saints were lacking the injured Paul Newlove, Kevin Iro and Keiron Cunningham, but it should be remembered that Salford were also under-strength with Hudson Smith, Darren Brown and Bobby Thompson failing fitness tests.

Fereti Tuilagi and Steve Hall deputised admirably in the centre, but the selection of half-back Jason Johnson in the hooking role inevitably raised the question as to when Alliance side hero John Hamilton will get his first-team chance.

Superbly marshalled by half-backs Steve Blakeley and Martin Crompton, Salford remained in contention for 70 minutes, in which time Blakeley missed a simple penalty which would have given his side the lead.

Second best in ball control and organisation they may have been, but the visitors nonetheless dug deep to maintain the pressure on leaders Bradford Bulls and, as coach Ellery Hanley remarked: "Saints showed character and mettle to pinch the two points." Saints predictably moved up a gear when Tommy Martyn came off the bench; Sonny Nickle confirmed it was an inspired move to re-sign him from Odsal; 14-point Sean Long kicked five goals in as many attempts, while skipper Chris Joynt, Chris Smith, Paul Atcheson and Paul Wellens regularly caught the eye.

With conditions well-nigh perfect, Saints rocketed into a fourth minute lead when Tuilagi broke from his own half and, on reaching Salford full-back Stuart Littler, sent the supporting Wellens between the posts for Long to convert.

But the score spurred the Reds to even greater heights and after 'Freddie' - whose tackling was outstanding _ halted Paul Carrige in full flight - Crompton chipped over Atcheson to touch down for Blakeley to tack on the goal with 11 minutes on the clock.

Atcheson saved Saints' bacon with a barnstorming clearance of a Blakeley bomb before Long restored the lead with a penalty for offside and repeated the dose when Paul Sculthorpe was obstructed, but defences remained supreme with a Blakeley goal after Gareth Price was penalised cutting Saints lead to10-8 at the break. Salford deservedly drew level in the 47th minute when man-of the-match Blakeley kicked his third goal when Saints were guilty of holding down in the tackle,

However the fates conspired against Joynt's men when Martyn and Long sent Anthony Sullivan hurtling between uprights but the score was disallowed because of a forward pass.

Joynt was then placed on report following a challenge on Blakeley, who badly miscued the subsequent penalty kick and it was something of an irony when Joynt broke away and sent Hall over the left-hand corner.

Long's steepling conversion via the woodwork gave Saints a 16-10 advantage with 20 minutes remaining, but they were still far from home-and-dry before Martyn lowered their pulse rate with a snap drop goal, which meant Salford had to score twice to take the lead.

A game which had hitherto been contested in sporting if uncompromsing manner suddenly erupted when Salford prop Craig Makin was dismissed for an alleged high tackle on Paul Davidson.

Sullivan then appeared likely to score what would have been a record 10th try in consecutive matches but Littler was sure in the tackle, and it was left to ever-alert Long to put the final nail in the coffin of the12-man Reds by darting over from the play-the-ball. Sean rubbed salt into the wound by adding the touchline goal.

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