There was no love lost as Salford City and Harrogate Town clashed on a frosty February evening at the Peninsula Stadium.
The fixture that on paper should have been a comfortable win for promotion-hopefuls Salford turned out to be a cagey affair that left plenty to be desired and ended in a one-all draw after a late equaliser from the home side.
Four changes were made to both starting line ups after the two sides lost their games on the weekend. Most notably Salford’s Matt Smith, who has eight goals this season, came in for Callum Morton, hinting at a more direct style of play.
The Ammies failed to win hearts in a lacklustre first half that began in open fashion, but quickly became a game of long range artillery fire with Harrogate looking comfortable to let Salford try to play possession football.
This ultimately proved a smart move from the Sulphurites who nullified Neil Wood’s men’s attempt to play keep-ball with an effective press.
Growing more into the game, Salford stung the palms three times of Harrogate keeper Mark Oxley who was making his first appearance since August.
A 39th minute celebration from the Harrogate defence after a crucial block from a Touray shot was symptomatic of who wanted it more.
It took until the 44th minute for the first real chance to materialise as Callum Hendry released a shot like Cupid’s arrow, looping and dipping until it reverberated off the bar. The ball was put behind for a corner which was subsequently met by a deft header that kissed the roof of the net.
Harrogate then replied with their own chance, seeing a 45th minute shot from Alex Pattison outside the box fly just wide of Cairns’ left post.
Indicative of a stale first half, the half-time entertainment that consisted of three blokes attempting to pass a ball from the half way line into the six-yard box to win £1,800 was the most entertaining part of the match up to that point.
Hoping for more chemistry and sparks to fly in the second half, both sides came out confident.
However it was Harrogate who struck first, scoring through a Jack Muldoon goal after the forward, who has just signed a new two-year deal, found himself in behind after a mis-kicked Leak clearance was dinked back beyond the defence by Falkingham for Muldoon to slip the ball past Cairns at his near post from just outside the six-yard box.
Salford had been finding joy in the wide areas most notably with Bolton and Touray, but the crossing into the box was poor hitting the first man on nearly every occasion.
Neil Wood had seen enough by 65 minutes and decided to bring on Aston Villa loanee Louie Barry for centre-back Ryan Leak, shuffling Lowe into centre-back, Bolton into right-back and Barry onto the right wing.
Neil Wood’s Harrogate verdict 🗣️
Full reaction 👇
— Salford City FC (@SalfordCityFC) February 14, 2023
The youngster’s injection of pace was refreshing to see and brought a new dimension to Salford.
However, it was another young prospect, Ethan Galbraith, who was dragging Salford back into the game with sweeping long balls and impudent technique.
The Manchester United loanee proved to be the difference in quality in the 81st minute, firing in an attractive cross curling into the box to be headed down by Vassell and eventually into the path of Lund who was then able to fire the shot into the roof of the net from close range.
For the last 10 minutes the game progressively hotted up on a frosty night as Touray and Ogaibe found themselves in a petty touchline altercation.
Well played, @Mattylund21 👏
Matty Lund is your @TalkTalk Player of the Match 🏆 pic.twitter.com/Vbv3dyauvi
— Salford City FC (@SalfordCityFC) February 14, 2023
The Ammies nearly took the whole game right at the end with Matty Lund once again involved with a fantastic outside the boot flick from a finally-accurate Touray cross, sending the ball crashing against the bar before some heroic defending blocked Lund’s follow up on the line.
That makes it twice in two games Salford have been denied goals by spectacular defending.
As the final whistle blew the Salford player dropped to the ground despairingly – fully aware of the opportunity they had just let slip after Carlisle were hammered by Mansfield 4-0.
Salford will have to face Mansfield in the coming weeks along with Swindon and Barrow, difficult games that will without doubt test Salford’s resolve and will prove vital in their push for promotion to League One.
Manager’s reaction
Neil Wood who was clearly not enchanted by his team’s perfomance gave his thoughts at full time.
The Salford manager said: “I thought we deserved more. I thought we were the team on top for long, long periods of the game and even the goal I thought we gifted them as an individual error. We just kept going, I thought we played well in long periods of the game and got in good positions.
“We created loads of chances, got in good places at times, played with quality, at times it let us down. We’ve come out with a point, but it should have been 3 for us.”
He added: “We’ve got to find consistency. We’ve got to pick up point when we’re not at our best and then when we’re all playing well, we’ve got to do all we can to get the three points.”
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