Round 7
Les Catalans Dragons 22 l. Salford City Reds 28

2006 English Super League Index [Table] [Draw] [Player Stats] [Club Headlines]

Location: United Kingdom > National > First Grade Competition: English Super League

Les Catalans Dragons
Mark Hughes [CT] 8 Pts; 2t
Michael Dobson [HB] 6 Pts; 3g
Alex Chan [PR] 4 Pts; 1t
John Wilson [CT] 4 Pts; 1t

Salford City Reds
Aaron Moule [CT] 8 Pts; 2t
Karl Fitzpatrick [FB] 8 Pts; 2t
Simon Finnigan [LK] 4 Pts; 1t
David Hodgson [WG] 4 Pts; 2g
Andy Coley [SR] 4 Pts; 1t



Late Salford rally denies unlucky Catalans
Mon March 27, 2006
Salford City have kept their excellent start to the season alive with a hard fought 28-20 victory against gallant French side Les Catalans in Round 7 engage Super League action.

The Reds who were sitting nicely in 4th position after six rounds were expected to make easy work of the Dragons and were at one stage crusing leading 20-6 prior to halftime.

Catalans opened the scoring when Salford allowed a bomb to bounce with John Wilson swooping on the loose ball to score. Michael Dobson was successful with the conversion attempt to give the Dragons an early 6-0 lead.

Salford fullback Karl Fitzpatrick scored the first of two tries following some excellent work from David Hodgson. The Reds were unable to convert the try with the French holding onto a slender 6-4 lead.

Aaron Moule gave Salford the lead on 25 minutes when he took advantage of an error from Wilson. Gareth Haggerty and Simon Finnigan setup the second try for Fitzpatrick and Andy Coley crashed over after charging onto a Malcolm Alker pass. Hodgson landed two conversions for the Reds to lead 20-6.

Alex Chan crossed over right on the stroke of halftime to put the Dragons right back into the match. Dobson added the extras with Salford leading 20-12 a the break.

Former Newcastle Knights and New South Wales Blues player Mark Hughes got the Catalans right back into the match with two second half tries to push the home side to a 22-20 lead with Dobson successful with one of the conversions.

Salford rallied late in the match with Finnigan regaining Salford's lead and Moule's second try sealing victory and maintaining Salford's position in the top four.

Reds coach Karl Harrison after the match said, "We really had to tough it out. We picked up a lot of injuries and Catalans played really well.

"So I'm delighted to be going away with the two points. It was a performance of true grit and desire from us."

New Catalans coach Michael Potter said, "The dedication from my players was fantastic. They worked very hard and were good in attack but we have still got a lot of improvements to make."

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