Salford could be without star full-back Niall Evalds for the next few games after he was forced to leave the field in the closing stages of the defeat to Castleford.
It compounded a disappointing night for Ian Watson’s side after they blew an 18-0 lead to lose 37-30 to the Tigers at Headingley.
Speaking post-match, the Red Devils head coach revealed the news on his full-back who had scored against his future club earlier on in the game.
“Niall does not look so good,” said Watson. “He has tweaked his calf. We do not know how bad it is but it was painful enough for him having to come off.
Evalds was announced as a Castleford player for 2021 earlier this week. Credit: News Images
“He was unable to clean up on the last try that Castleford scored. Normally, he would be there but he could not even move from the play the ball.”
On the game itself, Watson pulled no punches when reflecting on the performance as Salford fell to their seventh defeat in nine matches this season.
He said: “I thought we threw it away, 100 percent. I just spoke about the momentum shift in the first half cost us the game, basically.
“We led 18-0 and we should have been better than that. We started to do things that did not suit us.
Three early tries put Salford 18-0 up after 13 minutes. Credit: News Images
“We started to finish sets poorly and not on our terms. That give Castleford a sniff as they then had penalties go their way that led to points.
“Defensively, we needed to be a lot better. I thought we were improved from the week before but it is difficult when you have that massive momentum change.
“Conceding five or six set restarts against you puts you under massive pressure.
“We needed more belief in our systems. At 31-30, we were still right in the contest but then we fell away from it slightly and was chasing the score board when we did not need to.”
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