16 July 2023 , 17:25
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Leigh boss Adrian Lam’s phone went off for all the wrong reasons on game day - but his side dialled up a perfect answer.
They recovered from 22-10 down to beat gutted Salford 24-22, Ben Reynolds’ 72nd minute penalty proving the difference. Brilliant Leopards have now won 12 of their last 13 games since losing 22-20 at home to the Red Devils in April. Second in Super League, they are in great nick ahead of facing St Helens in Saturday’s Challenge Cup semi-final for a place at Wembley.
Lam was “ecstatic” with the win and revealed: “It was really, really tough considering a couple of late changes this morning. One of our key players, Edwin Ipape, pulled out with illness and then the guy who was due to replace him, Aaron Smith, was ill overnight as well.
"It’s one of those moments where you wake up on game day and texts were going everywhere and you think ‘Oh no, here we go.’
“Being a three o’clock game we had less time to adjust things but the lads handled it all really well. We had Joe Mellor come in, who’s not started at nine all year, and he was inspirational. Edwin will be fine for Saturday. He had a chance today but we didn’t want to risk him with it being just a six-day turnaround. And I knew Ben would kick that one at the end.”
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It was Leigh’s first win at Salford in 40 years and consigned their opponents to a fifth straight loss which dropped them out of the top-six. And the key play was painful for the hosts. Moments after Salford’s Marc Sneyd unusually sliced a drop-goal effort wide, Leigh were penalised for offside.
But King Vuniyayawa complained to referee Ben Thaler and his side were marched another 10m back. That allowed Reynolds to get just in range 42m out. And he nailed the crucial matchwinner. Salford were 22-10 ahead after Ben Hellwell latched onto Brodie Croft’s grubber in the 47th minute, Sneyd converting. They were causing Leigh problems and good value for their lead.
Leigh Leopards' Ricky Leutele goes over for a try past Salford Red Devils' Brodie Croft (Martin Rickett/PA) (PA)But the visitors began their comeback four minutes later when the excellenr John Asiata and Tom Amone both produced cracking offloads to smuggle Lachlan Lam over.
And then Salford pressed the self-destruct button for the first time when making a real mess of Tom Briscoe’s kick in the 64th minute. Neither Joe Burgess nor Ryan Brierley managed to clean it up and the ball rolled free for Zak Hardaker to score.
Reynolds converted from wide out to level it at 22-22 and he held his nerve again for that all-important kick. Ken Sio’s 10th try of the season saw Salford open the scoring but Ed Chamberlain quickly responded off Asisata’s half-break. Ricky Leutele then produced a spectacular finish from Lam’s great pass for Leigh’s second try but Salford replied via Vuniyayawa following Sneyd’s 40/20.
Salford were furious when Joe Burgess’ 80m ‘try’ was pulled back for a knock-on but England hooker Andy Ackers did stretch over for a 16-10 interval lead. But it came to nothing and boss Paul Rowley bemoaned: “We were masters of our downfall. Leigh are a team that will not go away. We knew that.
"And we took some short cuts. Ricky Leutele was short of the line with his try and I think Joe Burgess’ was 50/50 but we still had enough opportunities to get the job done.”