Leeds Rhinos 20 Salford Red Devils 14: Rival bosses have differing views of winning try
LEEDS RHINOS boss Brian McDermott admitted he could 'understand' opponents Salford's frustration following their 20-14 defeat at Headingley.
Liam Sutcliffe came off the bench to score the winning try in the final moments, but Salford coach Ian Watson was unhappy with the match officials and adamant the crucial touchdown should have been ruled out for a forward pass.
He felt Salford should have had a match-winning penalty before Leeds’ crucial touchdown and of the try he said: “I don’t know how two touch judges and the referee can miss it. It’s a bad call and it cost us dearly.”
McDermott said: “I’m going to be very diplomatic, I actually didn’t see the pass, but there were enough people shouting.
“If it was, it was. I can understand his frustration.”
But McDermott was pleased with the play leading to the try and he insisted: “From my point of view I won’t be rolling my eyes and saying we were lucky we got away with that forward pass.
“I thought the passage of play building up to it was where we really got Salford.”
McDermott was pleased to see his side come through a “very good contest”, against a resilient Salford side.
He said Rhinos are: “I thought we were scratchy in the first half, but we handled that game better.”