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Reds half-back headache

25/ 7/2002

GOULDING and Holroyd? Watson and Blakeley? Salford's half-back merry-go-round is set to continue against Leeds on Sunday - but who are the Reds' best combination?

The midfield partnership remains the one area in which Karl Harrison is still undecided since he took over from Steve McCormack at the end of May. A mixture of poor form and injury has meant Harrison has rarely picked the same two players in the middle of the park - a problem highlighted by recent poor attacking choices in games against Halifax and Warrington.

Reds director of football Steve Simms admitted Salford made poor decisions on Sunday at Wilderspool and that a settled half-back partnership has been hard to find. He told Advertiser Sport: "I think it was the pressure against Warrington, there were lots of choices and we took the wrong ones. Perhaps it is because we haven't been in that position much this season. Super League players have got to perform week in week out at a high level and this season we have often been in the situation when three or four players are off form - we can't afford that now, especially in the half-backs."

Bobbie Goulding had looked to be first-choice scrum-half earlier in the season until disciplinary problems and injury forced him out of contention. He now insists he is ready to play despite needing painkilling injections in his groin. Ian Watson and Graham Holroyd then seemed to be Harrison's first-choice half-back partnership, but Watson's dip in form and Holroyd's illness before the Wolves game looks to have called that into question.

Steve Blakeley's days at Salford looked numbered with a much-mooted move to Rochdale Hornets, until some good performances from the bench gave him a place in the starting line-up ahead of Goulding against Warrington. Some have even called for Harrison to dip into the Academy side - with Lee Marsh and Karl Fitzpatrick touted as possible replacements.

Meanwhile, more than one head was scratched at the Willows this week as players and staff studied videos of Sunday's defeat.

"To say we were unlucky was a bit of understatement," Steve Simms told us. "We were the best team and how we didn't score four tries I'll never know. Warrington made one line break at the end when Lee Briers scored and they won the game - but I suppose that's rugby."

Despite Salford's appalling recent record against Leeds Rhinos, Simms reckons the tide could be about to turn on Friday night at Headingley.

"If we can perform at the level we have for the last five or six games we have got a chance," he said. "The thing is we are going into games now thinking we can win. The players are gaining confidence and not thinking how many points the big teams are going to put past us."

Reds centre Jason Nicol could return after a back injury.