Salford RLFC secured an 18-16 victory over Batley Bulldogs in a hard-fought contest.
Toby Hughes was instrumental, scoring the decisive try to put the Reds ahead in a closely fought second half.
Read the full match report to relive all the key moments from Salford RLFC’s clash with Batley.
First half:
Salford worked the ball really well to the left edge, where Joe Hartley went over to give the Reds the lead inside eight minutes.
Evan Hodgson was shown a yellow card with 25 minutes remaining in the first half, but that did not affect Batley’s performance levels.
The Bulldogs responded through Jo Burton, who crossed on the right edge to bring the home side level.
A long kick from Ben Reynolds towards the right side of Salford’s defence was caught by Oliver Greensmith, who grounded the ball to score Batley’s second try of the afternoon.
Reynolds converted a penalty directly in front of the Salford away end to extend the Bulldogs’ lead to 12-6 with 10 minutes of the first half remaining.
Right before half-time, Dave Hewitt’s side showed great intelligence with the ball, with Toby Hughes running onto a pass at speed and breaking through the Batley defence to level the game once more at 12-12.
Second half:
Batley started the second half as the stronger of the two sides, with Derrell Olpherts crossing for a try seven minutes after the restart. The home side were also now attacking down the slope.
Salford continued to apply pressure on the Batley try line with 20 minutes remaining. A Toby Hughes kick towards the left edge nearly found Hartley, but Batley scrambled back to contain the red storm.
From the 20-metre mark, Hughes kicked the ball over the Batley defence and judged the bounce to perfection, allowing him to regather and go over to put the away side in front.
The Bulldogs thought they had scored again through Reynolds, who appeared to have gone in behind the Salford defence. However, the referee awarded a penalty against the Yorkshire side.
Hewitt’s side finish the Betfred Championship season in 12th place.
Daniel Burton
