ST HELENS coach Mick Potter refused to get carried away with his side’s 38-12 victory over Salford on Friday night and admitted there was room for improvement ahead of next week’s crunch clash with champions and arch-rivals Leeds.
The softly-spoken Australian said: “The two points helps us to stay in touch with Leeds. I thought Jon Wilkin was outstanding tonight and probably did more than he was asked to do. But we have still have work to do and probably need to improve our execution.”
Salford coach Shaun McRae watched his side slump to a fourth successive defeat with a 38-12 thumping at St Helens but declared himself satisfied with their efforts.
Australian McRae enjoyed a highly successful spell as Saints coach between 1996 and 1998 but he is finding life altogether tougher back in the big time with Salford.
The City Reds were 38-0 behind by the time full-back Karl Fitzpatrick and debutant Andrew Thornley crossed the line in the last 10 minutes to give their supporters reason to cheer.
The scores were deserved as McRae’s men never lost heart and actually showed a marked improvement on their woeful showings in their three previous outings.
Yet once again their deficiencies were brutally exposed as Saints ran in first-half tries from Jon Wilkin (2), Leon Pryce and Chris Flannery before Ade Gardner, James Graham and Keiron Cunningham applied further scores after the restart.
Sean Long claimed five goals as Salford headed back down the East Lancs Road on the back of their fourth successive thumping and have now shipped 167 points during that miserable run.
However, McRae said: “The mood is really buoyant in the changing room.
“It’s a bit eerie really and it doesn’t feel like a loss at all.
“There was enough and character showed that suggested we are on the up.
“There was a lot of improvement and it was summed up for me in the second half when Malcolm Alker tracked back and stopped James Roby. It showed the character in the side and I think our supporters – who I thought were terrific – saw a lot of effort and determination from the players.”
