Salford City Reds 14 Bradford Bulls 10

Sometimes someone says something that's so corny & cliched that you feel an overwhelming urge to punch them, not pause to consider that overused hackneyed phrases may be overused for the simple fact that there's a lot of truth in them. One such phrase came out when I needed a leak a few minutes into this game. Stood at the urinal & with the game still scoreless, the trap next to me was occupied by a familiar face, I don't know his name but he's a mate of Ordsall Paul, and as he had been on holiday the week previously he asked me if the debacle at Warrington had been as bad as many had said. "It was awful mate, we really hit rock bottom last week, we look absolutely sunk on that evidence", I informed him, "Well, you know sometimes you have to hit rock bottom before you can start to climb back up", he replied. I don't know what my reply was but I think it may have been along the lines of "Bollocks". After this game I would have ample time to reflect that he may just have been bang on the moolah.

It was, in truth, a game that none of us had really been looking forward to. After the crushing defeat of the previous week, coupled with a couple of very impressive Bulls performances of late, the result seemed a no-brainer if ever there was one. At least the club had reacted to the mauling at the HJ & moved to sign 3 players in advance of the deadline, snapping up Warrington's Michael Wainwright (for his 2nd spell at the club) and Richie Barnett together with Castleford's out of favour Tommy Saxton. To be fair nobody was dancing in the streets of Salford at these signings but it had to be better than doing nothing & McRae had worked with Saxton & Barnett at Hull so obviously thought there was something there to bring them to The Willows.

After doing a spot of of overtime (this was a Saturday match) and taking a mate's car down to Alan (Debbie's husband) for a quick quote on repairs, it was gone 3pm before I made it to the Eccles Cross for a pre-match refresher. Stayed there with Nic, Janice & Debbie for an hour or so before heading to the church hall to meet up with the lads who'd been pre-matching it on the Quays. After a couple of beers & a quick read of RAW issue 2 (still excellent) we made our way through the rain-soaked streets to the ground.

As expected, our new boys were drafted straight into the starting line-up with Luke Dorn finally being dropped to the bench. Although good defence would characterise the 1st half, both sides had chances to open the scoring most notably when Tupou's effort was chalked off for a forward pass to our great relief. Midway through the half we managed to work some space on the right which Robbo exploited with a smart kick to the corner where Viane just managed to ground the ball without touching the sideline (as confirmed by the Video Ref). It left Wilshere with a nasty conversion which hit the post flush on its side before dropping over the bar. After that I couldn't help but think that it may be our day after all.

If anything, the try seemed to spur on our already valiant efforts & with Wainwright & Korkidas bettering the Bulls pack we started to exert more control in the final 20 minutes of the half. Wilshere milked a penalty for obstruction which he slotted home for 8-0 before missing another penalty kick just on the hooter but still our spirits were raised by a 8-0 half-time lead & the manner of the performance in the 1st half.

Most of us expected the start of the 2nd period to bring a response from the Bulls & sadly we were proved correct. Deacon (who had been completely outplayed by Robbo) kicked a smart 40/20 & the Bulls quickly worked it out to the left for Tupou to force his way through Wilshere's attempted tackle & narrow the gap with Deacon adding a superb conversion. That clearly was the Bulls blueprint to get back in control of the game as shortly afterwards, Tupou was put through on the left again & bulldozed through Saxton to score, thankfully Deacon couldn't repeat the feat this time round. 8-10.

To be honest, although we stemmed the tide after that with some excellent defence, we never really looked like getting back in front until with about 15 minutes to go we worked a 6th tackle play left just inside our own half. There appeared to be little on but we kept the ball alive until it reached Aaron, Aaron Moule just in front of the shed. The Aussie maestro shimmied & stepped leaving St Hilaire stood rigid as he sped round the outside of him and raced downfield. As cover came across he fed the ball inside to the supporting Dorn who in turn fed it on to Robbo who raced away and slid under the sticks to restore our lead, wonderful try & easy extras for Wilshere to add.

Bradford started to lose their heads at this point & gave us a few penalties (Solomona being the chief culprit) which allowed us to run down some of the clock & look unthreatened for most of the remaining minutes. However, with the final seconds counting down, Deacon kicked left into our 20. Viane seemed to hesitate and to our horror James Evans nipped in to claim the ball. As cover came across he threw out a desperate pass towards Tupou which thankfully didn't reach his intended target & by the time he'd gathered the loose ball he had a foot in touch & the waving flag of the touch judge brought about wild celebrations as we got the ball back & saw out the remaining seconds.

It was time for some celebrating now and the 6pm kick-off meant a couple hours more drinking time than after a Friday night game. So we took advantage by celebrating in the Tav for an hour or so (most of which was spent in trying to get served) before getting a minibus to the Height for a few more sherbets in the Welly where Karl served up the chant of the night; "The answer my friend is Barnett on the wing" and Solly took advantage of possibly the world's best smoking area (with plasma screens up to watch the boxing in a patio-heated environment). The mood was lightened even further by a phone call from Buddha which allowed us all to congratulate our cult hero on a fine performance. As I said to him at the time, whatever the outcome in September, no-one will ever forget the roller-coaster ride which is this season. At drinking-up time we headed our separate ways with Bobby & Kate getting out of the cab at ours to have a few more drinkies & watch the re-run of the game on Sky. Even Bobby's fear of dogs couldn't keep him out (although we may not have told him about the 3 Rottweilers until he was actually in the house).