The Salford Red Devils staged an impressive second half come back to beat Hull Kingston Rovers 24-14 and advance to the Quarter Finals of the Ladbrokes Challenge Cup.
Rovers made a strong start to the game, but 24 unanswered points saw the Red Devils overcome a 0-14 deficit, with all of the Robins points coming in the first half.
The Red Devils came into the game on the back of an impressive win away to Wigan, and were able to welcome Weller Hauraki back into the side for his first appearance of the season after recovering from injury. Junior Saโu also returned to the line-up for Salford.
The game started off at a fast pace, and the Red Devils thought that had taken the lead inside the first ten minutes, only for Kris Welhams effort to be denied by the Video Referee.
5 minutes later and the Video Ref was called into action again, this time ruling a knock on from Rovers to deny them a scoring chance.
Rovers did open the scoring minutes later however, Shaun Lunt finding space in the Salford defence to race 50 meters from the based of a scrum and score.
It wasn’t long before Lunt was over again for Hull. There were hints of obstruction as again he dived over from the base of a scrum, but referee Robert Hicks awarded the try to give Rovers a 0-12 after the conversion, which Ellis quickly extended with a penalty goal.
With the momentum firmly with the away side, Salford needed to build their way back into the game, and they did just this, with Ryan Lannon pouncing on a Michael Dobson grubber kick to get the Red Devils on the scoreboard just before half time.
This try seemed to galvanise the Red Devils, and they started the second half in a similar vain, with Craig Kopczak breaking the Rovers line early and scoring under the sticks to bring Salford back to within 2 points.
With the Red Devils putting a huge amount of pressure on the Robins, it seemed like only a matter of time until they scored again. Minutes later, Kriss Brining scored one of the tries of the season, breaking from a scrum and racing 40m to score in the corner and give Salford the lead.
Michael Dobson added a penalty to extend the advantage to 4 points, as the Red Devils looked to close out the game.
With the rain coming down in sheets, the game became a scrappy affair, with high error counts on both sides. Rovers put the Salford line under pressure, but were unable to find a way through the Red Devils fronted up with a strong defence.
With seven minutes left on the clock, the Red Devils put the result beyond all doubt. Dobson hoisted up a high kick which was knocked down by Kris Welham into the hands of Ben Murdoch-Masila who forced his way over from close range to score.
Full Time: Salford Red Devils 24 Hull Kingston Rovers 14
The win puts the Red Devils in the draw for the Quarter Finals, which takes place on BBC 2 on Sunday afternoon.
Salford Red Devils: Evalds, Saโu, Jones, Welham, Johnson, Lui, Dobson, Mossop, Tomkins, Tasi, Murdoch-Masila, Lannon, Krasniqi, Kopczak, Brining, Hauraki, OโBrien
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