Salford RLFC began their new era in the Championship with a 44-0 defeat against Oldham.
On a night when Salford were convincingly beaten by their Greater Manchester rivals, there was a celebratory atmosphere as the club took to the field for the first time since the former Salford Red Devils were wound up in the High Court in December.
Ahead of kick-off, the hierarchy chosen to resurrect the club soaked up adulation from fans before the players were serenaded taking the field.
But with many supporters yet to take their seats inside the CorpAcq Stadium due to thousands of fans descending on the ground at once, Oldham raced into an early lead.
Centre Ben O’Keefe forced his way over in the corner before Keiran Dixon converted as the visitors went 6-0 inside the opening four minutes.
They went further ahead after eight minutes when Ted Chapelhow crashed over for Oldham’s second and Dixon converted again to extend their lead to 12.
With Salford beginning to show signs of weariness, Oldham manufactured an overload and quick hands from second-row Ryan Lannon opened up the space for debutant Tom Nisbet to score in the corner.
Driven on by thousands of vocal supporters inside the Shed, Salford began to probe for a quickfire response and went close to reducing the deficit when Ryan Brown burst down the right, but the forward was held up and spilled the ball.
After 33 minutes, the game was suspended for half-an-hour due to a medical emergency in the crowd.
When play resumed, a penalty saw Salford begin a set deep in Oldham’s half, but Salford failed to convert the territory into points as half-back Toby Huges was held up near the tryline as the host ended the half on the front foot.
Salford began the second-half brightly and were awarded a penalty five yards for Nisbet’s late tackle, but Mike Grady’s men failed to force their way through a determined Oldham defensive line.
Keiran Dixon was at the centre of a lightning-fast move that saw the Roughyeds extend their advantage to 20 after 54 minutes. He latched onto the end of an offload from Nisbet, broke upfield and played a simple pass for Riley Dean to touch down under the posts.
After Dixon converted his kick, both teams exchanged scrappy sets in the middle of the park before the away side began to muscle their way into the ascendancy again.
Outside back Jason Bibby surged onto a floated pass from Josh Drinkwater to power over in the corner for Oldham’s fifth try, before Cole Geyer capitalised on tired defending, breaking forward from dummy-half to add a sixth.
Prop Owen Farnworth forced his way through the Salford defence to score before Dixon converted again to put Oldham 38-0 ahead with nine minutes left on the clock.
Oldham were relentless on the night and added the gloss to an emphatic win when a no-look pass from Dean opened up the space for Lannon to score.
Despite the chastening result, Salford supporters continued to rally their team until the end and sang them off the pitch at the end of the match.
