Salford City Reds seek revenge over St Helens to revitalise Super League play-off bid

TEST: The Reds are up against St Helens

By Ben Burrows

Salford City Reds take on St Helens at Barton Bridge tonight hoping to avenge the defeat in the reverse fixture and get their playoff hopes back on track.

Reds went down 38-10 at Langtree Park at the start of the season despite dominating for much of the game.

Phil Veivers is wary of the threat that Saints hooker James Roby poses after seeing the England international make the difference last time around.

“When we played them earlier in the year we competed really good with them for 50 minutes but Roby stepped up to the plate and upped the tempo and blew us off the park in 15 minutes.

“That's something we've spoken about and addressed this week,” he added.

“They're a quality outfit,” he said. “They've got strike right through from one to 17. The guys coming off the bench give them a lift.”

The home side, who lost narrowly to Castleford Tigers a fortnight ago, will be boosted by the return of influential halfback Daniel Holdsworth after the Australian was missing last time out after a family bereavement.

“If Daniel had played, we would probably have won,” said Veivers.

Veivers will be without prop Lee Jewitt but fellow forward Jordan James – who was engulfed in a Twitter homophobia row last week – is included in the 19.

Saints, who welcome back all nine of their internationals after the International Origin game last weekend, are on a run of just two defeats – both of which to Wigan – since caretaker coach Mike Rush took over in March.

Reds hold an enviable home record – just three defeats in eight – and Rush knows they will be no pushovers on Friday night.

“Salford are a good team and we always seem to struggle when we play them away from home,” he said. “It will be a tough match for sure.”

Saints possess an array of attacking talent and Reds will have to be on the top of their game if they are to pick up the vital two points in the race for the playoffs.

Tickets are still available – to book call 0844 888 0200 or visit www.reds.co.uk/tickets

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