Red mist descends on Salford again as boss Marshall says ‘discipline cost his side the game at Leeds’

Salford Red Devils’ disciplinary woes against Leeds Rhinos continued at the Emerald Headingley stadium. The Yorkshire outfit triumphed 38-16 on Friday evening.

Last month’s reverse fixture between the two sides had seen Salford club captain Lee Mossop sent off for punching Leeds’ Konrad Hurrell, as well as a sin-binning for the Red Devils’ Ryan Lannon due to his part in a second-half scuffle off the ball.

While there were no red cards dished out to Richard Marshall’s side this time around, both Tui Lolohea and Sebastine Ikahihifo were shown yellow cards in quick succession in the early stages of the second half by referee Ben Thaler.

Post-match, Salford head coach Richard Marshall said that the disciplinary issues had cost his side dearly in the context of the game.

“We’re disappointed. Our discipline has cost us the game tonight against Leeds again. We seem to unravel ourselves when we play against them. I don’t think it’s psychological. It’s a lack of respect for the game, for the ball, and for the referee. We’ve got to be responsible for that on the pitch and so have I as the Head Coach of the team.

“I’ve never seen a referee change his mind when a player moans at him, so we need to know that we have to respect the officials. That’s how it has to be.”

With regards to the comments about on-field interactions with the match officials, Marshall refers to the first yellow card of the night – given to Lolohea – which was received for dissent.

It was clear to see at Headingley that Salford felt aggrieved by some of Thaler’s decisions, and that yellow card for the 26-year-old only made matters worse from a mentality point of view, which the Rhinos took full advantage of. Ikahihifo was riled up by members of the opposition camp and started an altercation resulting in him also receiving 10 minutes ‘in the bin’.

At that point, Salford had registered their first four points of the night after being nilled in the first half, with the score at 20-4 they looked to be getting back into the game. Even after the two yellow cards and while down to 11 men, Marshall’s men thought they’d got over again through Harvey Livett, but when his try was disallowed heads dropped.

Leeds then got themselves over the line twice in quick succession through Callum McLelland and King Vuniyayawa, taking the game away from the visitors. More tries followed for both teams, including a nice try from the re-introduced Lolohea post-sin-bin after a breakaway by teammate Ken Sio, but the result by then was a foregone conclusion.

38-16 come the sound of the final hooter and the Headingley crowd – with no restrictions on capacity in place for the first time since March 5, 2020 – showed their appreciation to the players as they completed a lap of the field.

In reality, the game was won by Leeds in the first half, heading in at the break with a 20-0 lead. Neither side move anywhere in the league rankings with the result, but of course, with Super League being decided on a win percentage basis this season, every game is made just that bit more important.

With a trip to Hull FC up next, Richard Agar’s Rhinos are now on a 50%-win percentage (7/14) and are 0.1% away from the final play-off spot, currently occupied by Hull Kingston Rovers.

Coincidentally, it is KR who Salford come up against next at the AJ Bell stadium. After Friday night’s defeat, they still sit tenth with a win percentage of 28.6% (4/14). It now looks like an almost impossible task for them to reach the play-offs come the end of this campaign.

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