Game Five of the Magic Weekend pitted high-flying Salford Red Devils against second bottom Super League side Leigh Centurions. A win for the Devils would lift them level on points with Castleford, at least for a couple of hours, while a first away win of the season for the Centurions was crucial to ensure that they didn’t get cut adrift at the bottom.

Salford were the big favourites, on the back of their win over Hull KR in last weeks Challenge Cup, and few gave Leigh any chance of a Magical upset.

Liam Hood made all the early running for Leigh’s opening try but it was Matty Fleming, on loan from St Helens, on the end of a passing move to go five metres through a gap to ground. Josh Drinkwater kicked brilliantly from the touchline and after eight minutes it was Leigh who had a surprise 6-0 lead.

The Leigh joy was short-lived. Within a minute Ben Murdoch-Masila picked up a Michael Dobson ricocheted kick through to walk in from five metres to score. Dobson failed to kick the goal leaving his side two behind.

On the back of two quick penalties Gareth O’Brien kicked a ten metre to level the scores.

On seventeen Leigh went over again as Mitch Brown broke the line from close after the Red Devils had been penalised for being offside at their own playthe ball. Drinkwater converted for 12-6. But on twenty-two Murdoch-Masila struggled to ground the ball despite the attention of three Leigh tacklers. Dobson added the goal and again the scores were level.

The Red Devils hit the from on twenty-four when Kris Welham was third man on a passing move to take the O’Brien pass and bisect the two defenders to score. Dobson kicked the conversion to edge his side six points ahead and into the lead for the first time in the game.

On the hour mark Greg Johnson was free on the overlap to go down the right wing, cut inside, and cross off a Welham pass. Dobson slotted the ball between the uprights with his conversion for 24-12 and the Red Devils were starting to pull away from the Centurions.

Leigh had given a good showing in the first half but the Red Devils were relentless and deserved their twelve point interval lead.

Leigh got a lifeline at the start of the second half with a brilliant Ben Crooks solo try after Higson had earned a penalty. The Centurions centre left the Red Devils tacklers in his wake as he went over under the sticks. Drinkwater added the extras and after forty-eight it was 24-18.

A shocking clothes-line tackle from Adam Higson on fifty-four left the referee with no option but to brandish a red card for Magic’s first sending off of the weekend, and Leigh would now have to overhaul a six point deficit with twelve men. Two tackles into the resulting six Niall Evalds exploited the extra space to go over in the left corner. Dobson kicked the extra two to bring up the thirty.

Just after the hour and Matty Dawson took a Cory Paterson pass for a five metre walk in. Drinkwater slidthe touchline conversion attempt in front of the uprights to leave his side trailing by 22-30.

On sixty-six the Red Devils sealed the win after a messy try which needed some time for the video referee to resolve. An offloaded ball bobbled between legs before it found its way to Johnson to dive in by the right corner flag. Dobson failed to add the conversion.

A Dobson penalty of seventy-four extended the lead to fourteen points at 36-22.

Leigh gave this game a good 'go' and for periods of the game they were head to head with Salford and battling on even terms. The Red Devils had that extra finesse in Leighs twenty and made fewer errors. Although already behind the Higson sending off killed any hopes of a Leigh fightback and with Salford now level top of Super League (pending the Tigers v. Rhinos result), Leigh look increasingly like candidates for the middle eights.

Red Devils: O’Brien (G), Evalds (T), Sa’u, Welham (T), Johnson (2T), Lui, Dobson (5G), Tasi, Tomkins, Kopczak. Murdoch-Masila (2T), Jones, Krasniqi. Subs: Lannon, Hauraki, Brining, Flanagan.

Centurions: Brown (T), Dawson (T), Crooks (T), Fleming (T), Higson (SO), Hampshire, Drinkwater (3G), Burr, Hood, Hansen, Paterson, Vea, Stewart. Subs: Pelissier, Hock, Tickle, Hopkins.

Referee: James Child.

Half-Time: 24-12.

Full-Time: 36-22.

Attendance: .