City Reds edge Robins

Danny Williams' tries in each half helped Salford City Reds beat Hull KR 24-22 to notch back-to-back wins.

After stunning Warrington last weekend, the City Reds were forced to hold on at Craven Park, with Rovers' Michael Dobson unable to convert his 69th-minute try before his clever kick through was missed by Liam Salter.

The victory, which came two days after the Reds announced Matty Smith was leaving to join leaders Wigan, moved the visitors two points behind the Robins, and further revived their play-off hopes.

Williams' tries in each half were crucial but the visitors could not have wished for a better start with a try after just 64 seconds.

Daniel Holdsworth, man of the match for the Exiles on Wednesday night against England, delivered a perfect bomb which deceived Sam Latus.

The ball bounced off the winger into Joel Moon's hands and the centre sent his winger Jodie Broughton over for a simple score. Holdsworth's missed conversion, one of three in the game, left the score 4-0.

Rovers looked sluggish making errors early in their sets at both ends of the pitch.

Shannon McDonnell and Josh Hodgson squandered good attacking possession while Jake Webster coughed up possession 13 metres from his own line on the first tackle following a Rovers scrum.

Compounded error

Rovers compounded that error by conceding a penalty from which Holdsworth's long cut-out pass was taken over the line by Williams. Holdsworth's conversion gave the Reds a 10-0 lead after 15 minutes.

A Dobson kick forced Luke Patten to concede a goal-line drop out and provided a spark for KR but a poor pass from McDonnell to Salter ended another Rovers attack prematurely.

It took Rovers 22 minutes to sort themselves out and after a penalty for a high shot by Marc Sneyd on McDonnell.

Blake Green's inside pass was taken at pace and at an angle by Constantine Mika, whose power was too much for Salford to stop. Dobson kicked the conversion to reduce the deficit to four points.

At that point Robins coach Craig Sandercock introduced Scott Taylor and Lincoln Withers fresh from their Exiles run out on Wednesday night.

Immediately after their introduction, Rovers took the lead for the first time. Dobson sent Green over after a flowing move. Dobson's conversion made it 12-10 after 27 minutes.

But the lead lasted four minutes as Ben Gledhill used every inch of his frame to stretch the ball over the line from another penalty. Holdsworth converted to restore Salford's lead at 16-12.

There was no further scoring in the first half and Rovers will have considered themselves lucky to be only four points adrift.

Started brightly

Rovers started the second half brightly with Withers kicking a 40/20 in the first minute.

They turned it into four points when Hall took Dobson's pass over the line. Dobson converted to give Rovers an 18-16 lead.

But two tries in three minutes put Salford in a commanding position.

Williams' second try was followed by the try of the game. Williams looked to be bundled out of bounds, but he managed to get an offload to centre Moon who scored with ease.

Crucially, Holdsworth missed both conversions and instead of being ahead by 12 points, Salford held a six-point lead.

For all their errors, Rovers were still in this game. And they reduced the deficit to two points with 11 minutes remaining.

Hall provided the initial spark breaking a tackle inside his own half. Graeme Horne and Hodgson continued the move before Dobson slid over the line in the left-hand corner. His conversion attempt however drifted wide leaving Salford still with a two-point lead.

Salter then missed the chance to be the match-winning hero when Dobson's kick through went between his legs and out of play eight metres from Salford's line.