Leeds Rhinos were forced to dig deep in conquering Salford Red Devils this evening as a slender 22-18 win kept them within two points of the Super League summit.

One try proved to be the difference between the second-placed Rhinos and Salford, who had climbed to 10th in the table following three consecutive victories.

Junior Sau crossed on 13 minutes to put the Reds 4-0 ahead at the AJ Bell Stadium, but Zak Hardaker converted his own 21st-minute try as Leeds overturned their early deficit.

Hardaker was at it again with the boot two minutes later to add more points following a Kallum Watkins effort, but Salford prevented the Rhinos from going clear when Theo Fages touched down a minute before the break.

However, Leeds started the second half strongly as Carl Ablett and Stevie Ward both went over before the 53rd minute.

Salford refused to give up and quickly responded through Jordan Waine and Darrell Griffin continued his 100% kicking statistics for the evening to ensure that the Reds were within one score of parity, but they could not find it in the latter stages as the Rhinos hung on for a crucial success.