Marshall is full of pride despite Red Devils’ sore point
SALFORD boss Richard Marshall hailed his ‘outstanding’ Salford side after their heartbreaking Golden Point loss to Warrington Wolves.
George Williams landed a drop goal in extra-time to give the Wire a dramatic 20-19 victory at the Halliwell Jones stadium.
In a breathless finale to the 80 minutes, Warrington looked to have sealed victory when Williams landed a drop goal with three minutes to go to edge his side into a 19-18 advantage.
But Salford’s Tui Lolohea levelled matters a minute later with a onepointer to tie it up at 19-19 and then, with the last kick of the game, Williams landed another drop goal, but it was ruled out by referee Scott Mikalauskas for obstruction.
Krisnan Inu was just off target with the first drop goal attempt in extra-time for the Red Devils, but Williams made no mistake for the play-off bound Wolves.
“For a team like ourselves, who are near the bottom, to go toe-to-toe with one of the best teams in the comp - I thought we were brilliant,” said Marshall.
“There was lots going on but, from a resilience and a toughness stance, I thought we were outstanding.
“It was a really back-and-forth game. No one was quiet in the dressing room after. It was straight into what we could have done better.”
A much-weakened Warrington outfit scored tries through Matt Davis, Matty Ashton and Josh Charnley, with Gareth Widdop landing three goals.
Ken Sio claimed two tries for Salford to take him clear at the top of the Super League scoring charts with 17, while Lolohea also touched down.
Warrington coach Steve Price felt Salford have given his side the ideal preparation for the play-offs.
He said: “That finish was good practice for hopefully what’s coming in the next week or two.
“George had to nail three clutch plays and it bewildered me the penalty against us which the referee disallowed for obstruction at the ruck and that’s something I’ll take up.
“It was a good tough game, but we have got to get the errors and penalties out of our game because we are making it real hard for ourselves.
“But we showed a lot of guts and determination and courage to hang tough.
“We rotated our squad and gave a lot of the young guys an opportunity and I thought they showed some really good signs for the club for the future.”
Ryan Brierley scored a hat-trick and finished with 18 points as bottom of the table Leigh stunned Wakefield 26-18 yesterday for just their second win of the season.