Salford RLFC suffered a heavy 4-62 defeat to London Broncos.
Jason Demetriou’s side took no prisoners, as the visitors went in at half time with a 28-0 lead.
The Reds had a huge mountain to climb in the second half, but new signing Marc Sneyd put a smile on Salford faces prior to the game.
First-half:
London Broncos started off stronger out of the two teams, as Luke Smith went over for the visitors inside the opening four minutes of the game.
Jason Demetriou’s side kept their levels high and aggressive, as they added to their scoreline in quick succession when Robert Mathias went over for his first try of the afternoon.
The Salford goal line defence was forced into panic stations again on their left edge, from a grubber kick by Dean Hawkins, who found the arriving Luke Smith to touch the ball down, to give the away side a lead of 16-0 halfway through the first half.
Finley Glare added to the London’s barrage of attacks, as the fourth try for the Broncos was scored, after what the Salford players and fans thought was a knock-on.
Dave Hewitt’s Reds kept striving forward and for the line, but had little chance to create, with mainly knock-ons providing Salford with retaining possession of the ball.
The home side’s closest chance to a possible score was 10 minutes from the end of the first half. With Salford now swapping the momentum shift in their favour, however, the Londoners held on at a vital point in the game and reaped their rewards.
As the attack of the block of white kits kept coming and after a tough spell in the game, the Broncos found their feet, with Mathias going over for his second try of the afternoon, resulting in the score being 28-0 at half-time.
Second-half:
15 seconds is all it took for the visitors to start off from where they left off, when Marcus Stock capitalised on a Salford error straight from the kick.
It did not take long to add another try for London, as Glare faked a dummy pass and broke the Reds line to go over, with five minutes gone of the second half.
Mathias went three for three for his hat-trick for his Broncos, after some fantastic interlinking play between the right edge of Demetriou’s team.
The hat-tricks would not stop there for the team from the capital, with Luke Smith touching the ball down to make it 50-0, in what was proving to be a hard challenge for Salford.
London kept firing away throughout the second half thanks to quick hands from Gairo Voro on the left edge, who found the open James Meadows as he assisted Jack Croft, for another four points on the board for the away side.
The visitors goal line defence early cracked when Owain Abel and Toby Hughes nearly found a rout to the line with 15 minutes to go.
But patience from Salford resulted in an unbelievable lofted pass from captain Brad Dwyer to an open Callum Green on the right wing, who has now scored in back-to-back games.
Cameron Bate was forced off the pitch with eight minutes to go due to injury.
A superb goal line saving tackle from Kieran Dixon denied Neil Tchamambe of an almost clear try for the Broncos.
In the last 10 minutes Hewitt’s team showed a lot of heart and played great towards the end of the game, showing the never die attitude instilled in this group of players.]
With one minute to go Mathias added to his hat-trick, when he went over in front of the South Stand with one minute to go.
Daniel Burton
