MATCH REPORT: Salford suffer promotion setback after 4-3 loss to Crewe

Salford City have lost ground in their push for promotion after a late collapse gave Crewe Alexandra all three points on Friday night.

Salford got off to a good start with January signing Louie Barry opening his goalscoring account for the Ammies, with a neat tap in from a Luke Bolton cross on the 19th minute.

Centre Back Theo Vassell gave away a penalty with his attempted block of a cross catching Crewe frontman Elliott Nevitt, which allowed Daniel Ageyi to equalise from the spot.

Salford’s defensive woes continued, with Ryan Leak’s misplaced pass going straight to Joel Tabiner. He chipped Alex Cairns, who was off his line from over 35 yards out on 40 minutes.

Just moments before half time, Luke Bolton should have equalised, his half-volley rattling the crossbar. The ball bounced to Ethan Galbraith who then passed it onto Callum Hendry, who chipped the ball up and with a flying kick beat the Crewe keeper and levelled the game.

Louie Barry scoring his first Salford City goal against Crewe. Credit: Salford City YouTube channel.

With five minutes before the end, Salford looked like they had grabbed a winner, with Luke Bolton laying it off to Stevie Mallan, who drilled the ball past the keeper at his near post from the edge of the box.

This was Mallan’s first goal in Salford colours, only making his debut in February after suffering a string of injuries since signing in the summer.

It wasn’t meant to be though for the Ammies, with Crewe equalising just three minutes later through Connor O’Riordan, backheeling it past Cairns in goal.

Daniel Ageyi snatched Crewe’s winner and his second goal in the last minute of normal time, which he placed into the bottom right corner, with some Crewe fans running onto the pitch to celebrate.

Salford could drop out of the play off places if Sutton win against Barrow on Saturday, with some blushes saved after Mansfield’s game against league leaders Leyton Orient was postponed meaning they can only drop one position.

The Ammies could end the week seven points off the automatic positions, with teams above them such as Stevenage, Northampton and Bradford looking to increase their gaps.