We have this morning managed to arrange with Northern Rail to extend the train to Blackpool by a further two carriages, taking the capacity to 600 and meaning a further 150 places are going on sale this afternoon, again priced at the ridiculously low £5.

We expect these to sell quickly, so if you want one or more we would suggest buying this afternoon or at tonight’s game!

Salford City Reds will Join Northern Rail at the Trafford Centre tomorrow (Sat 28 June) to promote next Sundays Northern Rail Cup Final next Sunday.

Players will be present between 1pm and 3pm at the bandstand in the Orient, and there will be an opportunity to win VIP tickets to the final next Sunday, so be sure to register at the promotional site tomorrow.

Quick update.

The train has now completely sold out.

Just gone on sale is coach travel. This is again being run on a not for profit basis, and seats cost £10 per person.

The coach(es) will leave The Willows at 11.30am, and will set off back from Blackpool at 5.30pm. Tickets are sold on first come, first served basis, spaces are limited and expected to sell out quickly at that price!

Thanks.

Hello.

Apologies for the lack of update in the last couple of days.

I’ll deal with the train first. We managed to up the capacity to 450. At the time of writing there are 444 sold and only six places remaining, so if you want to go on the train please buy now! We are considering running coaches once the train has sold out, if there is sufficient demand, so register your interest now.

Tickets have continued to sell well both here and at Doncaster, and we have now almost completely sold out our second allocation. We have requested additional tickets from the RFL but have only been allowed an additional 250 behind the goal. It would appear that is all we will be able to get.

We once again urge fans to reconsider if they are thinking of taking their chances and paying on the day
- partly as the Reds benefit much more significantly from sales directly from the club, but also as there are no guarantees that there will be any tickets available to buy on the day, and we would hate for any of our supporters to be disappointed!

Thanks.

Just Parky and myself on Rugby Roundup this evening ahead of next week’s big pre-Cup Final show.

We have an interview with Shaun McRae where he discusses licences, Widnes defeat and the Halifax game.

Plus we’ll have the latets team news and generally chatting about the world of Rugby League over the past seven days

Sooooooo

6-7PM 94.4FM or listen online at www.salfordcityradio.org

See you on the wireless

Report by Frank Grundy

A much changed Reds side struggled throughout to complete their sets and spent long stretches having to defend. Conditions were very wet making handling difficult and the Reds struggled to put any decent attacking moves together. The first score came after 17 minutes when Widnes kicked a penalty to go 0-2 up.

Widnes continued to adapt to the conditions better than Salford and it took an excellent catch from Reds winger Darren Fletcher to prevent Widnes going over. The Reds continued to be their own worst enemy, constantly coughing up possession and putting themselves under pressure. Fullback Jonny Youds mounted his own version of Custer’s Last Stand on the try line, but eventually the dam was breached on 25 minutes by the Widnes winger for a converted try. No further points were scored in a dreadful half from both sides that ended 0-8.

8 minutes into the second half Widnes increased their lead through a try by their prop forward which was converted to make the score 0-14. Still the Reds were failing to complete their sets and just could not get good field position as a result of their own errors and were without doubt their own worst enemy throughout. A superb run by Reds prop Andy Waring gave them hope, but again they squandered position when within 10 metres of the Widnes line. This passage of play was the one bright spot in a terrible game, with the Reds having shown a glimpse of what they are capable of followed by Widnes’ best move of the game, sweeping down the field with some excellent passing to score the final points of the game with an unconverted try.

The Reds simply never came to terms with a greasy ball and blustery wind, so never managed to mount any serious pressure on Widnes. A very disappointing display all round.

As of 2pm today there were only just over 50 seats left on the train to Blackpool - we expect they will be filled by tomorrow morning at the latest, so if you want to go, book now!

Not in the office today so can’t give an update on ticket sales, but will let you know remaining availability tomorrow.

Thanks.