PROMOTED Featherstone Rovers suffered their first defeat since they returned to National League One when they lost 42-12 to title favourites Salford City Reds on Monday.
After an impressive 28-6 opening day win over Whitehaven, Rovers made a dreadful start at The Willows.
Salford led 28-0 after just 29 minutes before two tries from scrum-half Paul Handforth, who added both conversions, gave Featherstone a glimmer of
hope
However, Rovers finished well beaten as Salford completed a comfortable win.
Matt Gardner scored two of Salford's eight tries before hobbling off injured late on.
Jordan Turner, Stefan Ratchford and Ian Sibbit also touched down in a dominant first half display by the Lancashire side.
Second half-tries from young goal-kicker Andy Ballard, Stuart Littler and Paul White sealed Salford's second successive win.
Featherstone will look to bounce back when they take on Sheffield Eagles in Thursday's televised game at the Chris Moyles Stadium.
Salford:Wilshere; Ballard, Littler, Gardner, White; Ratchford, Myler; Nash, Alker, Stapleton, Sibbit, Brocklehurst, Turner. Substitutes: Borgese, Jewitt, Bannister, Leuluai.
Featherstone: Wildbore; Pryce, Kirk, Saxton, McHugh; Kain, Handforth, A Tonks, McLocklan, Dickens, Field, Dooler, Haughey. Substitutes: Hesketh, Houston, I Tonks, Blakeway.
Half-time: 28-6.
Referee: Mike Dawber (Wigan).
Attendance: 5,139.
The full article contains 213 words and appears in n/a newspaper.
