The YEP's rugby league scribe Peter Smith reflects on another defeat in a dismal season for Leeds Rhinos.
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00:00Well, the sun is setting here at Salford Stadium and I think it's already set on Leeds Rhinos' top six chances.
00:09Beaten 22-16 by Salford here today, that leaves them four points adrift of the playoffs.
00:17And at this stage of the season, with a very tough run in, it's hard to see them closing that gap,
00:23particularly when the team immediately above them are St Helens, who will certainly pick up some points over the last few games.
00:29Leeds have a very tough run in, starting with Wigan next Saturday.
00:33I suppose now it's just a case of giving it their best and seeing where they end up,
00:38but a very disappointing season it's been overall and today summed that up really.
00:4412-0 up after nine minutes, admittedly both Leeds' tries coming against 12 men.
00:50They got another one to go 16-6 up with about 25 minutes gone and then didn't score after that.
00:57Had a chance, I thought they made a mistake by not taking a penalty goal at 16-6,
01:02which would have given them a couple of scores cushioned, but they didn't take that.
01:07You've got to admire in a way their adventure, but it didn't pay off.
01:12They made a soft error at the play of the ball in that set and that's what again killed them.
01:17They gave away far too many penalties, conceded some really soft errors at times.
01:21A couple of players it looks to me like are playing injured.
01:25Michaledski, for example, was clearly struggling towards the end.
01:29Dashan Lee, who's been outstanding this year, Leeds' best player by far.
01:33I thought he was struggling at times, looked very hesitant on the kicks, which is unlike him.
01:38They were one of two positives, I thought like him they were a decent game at full-back.
01:43James Macdonald impressed again, but really it was a case of Leeds shooting themselves in the foot.
01:49After 12-0 up that early on, they should have won this game.
01:52They weren't really in it in the second half, I didn't think.
01:55It created some late pressure, but I never felt that they were going to score.
01:59And Salford, you have to say, deserved the win.
02:01They celebrated it like they'd won a cup final.
02:03The players were still out there, a good ten minutes after the game finished.
02:07A big win for them, but for Leeds it just leaves them with the run in now,
02:14the final quarter of the season and nothing really to play for other than pride.
02:18Let's see if we can get some of that back over the next few weeks.