ROOKIE hooker Gareth Owen made his Salford debut in the 44-18 defeat to Hull KR yesterday.

But the 17-year-old star of the future was nursing a king-sized headache this morning.

Owen was drafted in on the bench with Mal Alker missing through injury and Jeremy Smith suspended.

He was called in to action but lasted only 20 minutes after taking a bang on the head.

Coach Shaun McRae said: “He did well.

“He was only on for 20 minutes but will remember his debut for providing Rob Parker with a try-scoring pass and then getting his head in the wrong place when he made a tackle and had to leave the field.

“He is very good technically and has a very promising career in front of him and is part of our future plans.”

Salford were seriously understrength – although Hull KR were without four key players – and were pulled apart in the second half with Rovers scrum-half Michael Dobson pulling the strings.

McRae said: “It was better than our last performance but still nowhere near good enough.

“We came up against a highly motivated team who want to do well in the play-offs.

“We lacked a cutting edge when we needed it and lost energy in the hot conditions when we did not have the ball for long spells.

“Hull KR should have been leading by more at half-time but we were fortunate enough to hang on in there.

“The damage was done in the first 20 minutes of the second half when we only had the ball for three of the 18 sets of six.”

Local youngsters Marc Sneyd and Adam Neal were in the starting line-up while Jack Spencer (pictured) was on the bench.

Salford had Ray Cashmere placed on report for an alleged “chicken-wing” tackle.