MOSES Mbye wasn’t the unlikely hero in scoring the match-winning point against Salford Red Devils on Thursday night, but eyes may have been fixed on somebody else coming up with the crucial play

The 30-year-old has kicked drop goals before, but not many, and it has been a long time between drinks.

His one-pointer in golden-point extra-time against Salford – sealing Saints’ first home win since May – was his first for the club and arrived nine years after his last success in top-flight rugby league while playing for Canterbury Bulldogs in the NRL.

Even then, that was only the second one of his near 250-game career.

If suspended skipper Jonny Lomax or Lewis Dodd, who went off injured in the second half, had been on the field, Mbye may not have been the man Saints looked to for the moment of magic.

Mbye was well wide with one effort in the final minute of normal time but he delivered when it mattered and when most people would have been thinking golden-point extra-time was a perfect opportunity for drop-goal regular Marc Sneyd to win the contest for the visitors.

In the end, Saints head coach Paul Wellens felt it was fitting that Mbye was the man to complete the job after some big moments he had in the first 80 minutes – including a try assist for Curtis Sironen and a stunning try-saving tackle on Deon Cross when his side were down to 11 men in the second half through Morgan Knowles and Joe Batchelor being in the sin bin.

“It’s great for Moses to score the point that got the game won,” said Wellens.

“I think when you go into golden-point against Salford everyone quite naturally assumes that it’s Marc Sneyd who’s going to win the day and probably rightfully so because he’s done it that many times.

“But it was great that we could get ourselves in that field position and obviously Moses to come up with the play was huge.

“He’s a good striker of the ball and he does a fair bit of practicing with his kicking whether that’s out of 9 or 7.

“Whenever he’s played in the halves with us he’s always kicked the ball really well, so he’s very competent in that area.

“If Lewis is out there, he’s usually been first choice – as we all saw against Penrith Panthers a little while ago.

“Jonny Lomax has done it for us, and he did it earlier on in the year against Huddersfield to win that game.

“So we have got a good number of options. Any of those guys if they found themselves in those positions I’ve got every confidence they can strike the ball well.”

With Dodd going off in the 57th minute and back-rower James Bell moving to scrum-half, Mbye had a lot of responsibility on his shoulders in the second half with regards to organising the team and in-game kicking duties.

“I can’t speak highly enough of Moses with the way he’s handled being thrown into the halves the last couple of weeks,” said Wellens.

“Along with Lewis, they’ve been really calm, they understand where the team is at and they’ve been instrumental in us sticking to a game plan.

“We understand as a coaching and playing group, we’re missing Jonny Lomax and Jack Welsby who are probably our two most potent attacking players in terms of creativity – so that would impact any team.

“But in Lewis and Moses, we’ve got two halves that have really got the team around the field, stuck to the game plan, prepared to be patient because we need that in these moments.

“Moses’ try assist for Curtis Sironen, the drop goal, the big tackle that he made, he had a big hand in a lot of big moments.

“One of the reasons we brought a player like Moses to the club in the first place is that his versatility is crucial, and his temperament – he knows what big games look like and he knows what’s required in big moments.”