Northampton's Jamie Elliott closes in on the try line during his side's victory at Edgeley Park © Getty Images

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Matches: Sale Sharks 10 - 19 Northampton Saints

Tournaments/Tours: Aviva Premiership

Teams: Northampton Saints | Sale Sharks

Grounds: Edgeley Park

Jamie Elliott's fairytale start to his Aviva Premiership career earned him lavish praise from Jim Mallinder as Northampton marched to the top of the table with a 19-10 win at Sale.

The 18-year-old wing marked his Premiership debut with a clever assist for Greig Tonks' 55th-minute score and a try of his own five minutes from time.

Saints director of rugby Mallinder said, "How good can Jamie be? Who knows. Sale is a tough, tough place to come and make your Premiership debut but Jamie handled himself really well. He had a great game. The lad is only 18 and he's inexperienced but he's been playing well for us in the LV= Cup.

"He came in tonight and took his opportunity, scoring a try himself and having a hand in the Tonks try. Everything he did was very good." Sale's desire could not be faulted and they scored the only try of the first half thanks to an exhilarating breakaway effort from former Saints wing Ben Cohen.

Yet three penalties from Stephen Myler put Northampton 9-7 ahead at the break and Tonks' superbly-executed try gave them further breathing space before Elliott's late second. It was a fifth defeat in eight outings for Sale, but Northampton, minus England quartet Chris Ashton, Ben Foden, Dylan Hartley and Courtney Lawes, went marching on to claim their seventh Premiership victory of the season.

"It's just a win," added Mallinder, who swiftly turned his thoughts to next weekend's Premiership home clash against title rivals London Irish. "Away wins are really hard to come by and particularly coming up here on a Friday - the lads have been sat in a hotel all day - it's not the best.

"But we're delighted. We've got the win, four points, and we'll go back down the motorway very contented." On the impending clash with the Exiles, Mallinder added: "It should be a cracking game next week because we don't like losing at home. "We don't like losing anywhere to be honest."

The performance of referee JP Doyle attracted criticism from the home supporters but Sale head coach Mike Brewer took plenty of positives from his side's display. "We've got a long way to go and we're probably two years away from being as efficient as Northampton," said the former New Zealand captain after his side failed to collect so much as a losing bonus point.

"As I said to the guys, we're at the start of a journey and in six months' time we will be a better team when we play them again at Franklin's Gardens. I am very happy with the performance but I'm hurting that we lost because we thought we could have won the match."

Sale forward Aston Croall succumbed to a medial ligament injury and is expected to be sidelined for two to three weeks.