Browse Sections

• Salford City Reds
• Local football
• Local cricket

Go again boys

Dave Lawrenson
19/ 6/2008

SALFORD Reds coach Shaun McRae will reward Saturday’s semi-final heroes by selecting the same 17 players for the League One game at Widnes tonight, Thursday, June 19, kick-off 7.30pm.

McRae labelled the 36-20 Northern Rail Cup success at Celtic Crusaders as Salford’s ‘best performance of the season’.

And, with Jordan Turner having recovered from the head injury he sustained in Bridgend, McRae is happy to name an unchanged side for the televised trip to Widnes.

He said: "It was a terrific performance from the boys and it is hard to make changes after a game like that. I’d like to reward the players by going with the same 17 against Widnes."

That means there will be no recalls for Karl Fitzpatrick and Andrew Brocklehurst. And Ian Sibbit will remain on the sidelines having hit a plateau in his comeback from a knee injury.

McRae said: "Ian’s injury has improved but his progress has stalled somewhat. It is not getting to the point where it is playable. Our only other injured player at the moment is Lee Jewitt, who will be out for about a month with knee ligament damage."

Widnes come into the game on the back of a three-match losing streak.

But they have had 11 days to prepare for the game compared to Salford’s five and McRae is convinced that the Reds are in for a tough encounter.

He said: "Widnes will be desperate to end their losing streak.

"And they have brought in two very good players on loan from St Helens to help them do that – half back Matty Smith and centre Chris Dean.

"But they will be without their injured skipper Mark Smith and I am also hearing that John Duffy will miss the game through injury."

The two sides drew 16-16 at the Willows in April.

And McRae is expecting another close encounter tonight.

He said: "Widnes are a good side and we will have to play well to win.

"We know how hard the game is going to be. But the biggest challenge to the players this week is whether or not they can back up the excellent semi-final performance.

"We have been working hard with the players to make sure that they have recovered from that game physically.

"They showed so much grit and determination in the semi-final and if they can do that again then I am confident that we will beat Widnes on Thursday night."

McRae admits that he is proud of the way his players have responded to their recent shock defeat at Whitehaven.

And he believes that the table-topping Reds are not being given the credit that they deserve.

He said: "People keep saying to me that we have the strongest squad in the division but I am not sure that that’s true.

"We have a lot of young players here. They are playing in key positions when they are still learning this game.

"That is why we have not always been consistent with our performances. You can’t expect young players to always deliver the goods. But with the young players we have our future is looking bright.

"Also, we have never managed to replace James Jiminez and Damien Reid due to the fact that we haven’t been able to find the right people to bring in. We have had to stick with what we’ve got and make do with being two players short. People seem to forget that."