Salford lost their fourth League Two match in a row on Friday night, as Notts County claimed a 2-0 victory at the Peninsula Stadium.
The Ammies lacked intent all game, finding chances few and far between to come by while the same could not be said of the high-flying Magpies, who piled on the pressure right from the first blow of the whistle.
Salford started on the back foot as Stevie Mallan was dispossessed in the second minute to allow McGoldrick to meet a cross with a header that bounced back across goal.
The foreshadowing from the ex-Sheffield United man was already impossible to ignore.
The early nerves were further compounded when Salford keeper Alex Cairns nearly lost the ball in his own box, only to be saved by the whistle for a foul.
Salford continued to maintain possession, handling the Notts County press well, but with no inspiration to send the ball forwards, symptomatic of the lack of quality in the start of their season.
Out of possession, the Ammies stuck to a rigid shape that invited plenty of crosses into their own box from Notts County.
Things only got worse in the 15th minute when Ossama Ashley went down injured in his own box ultimately having to be swapped out for Connor McAleny after a lengthy stoppage.
The minutes that followed saw a potetnially exciting match-up on paper unravel into a rather dull affair with Salford conjuring together a couple of half chances while Notts County looked for the most part comfortable.
However, everything changed in the 37th minute when the teasing of fate became reality as David McGoldrick met a simple cross in from Dan Crowley on the right to steer the ball past Cairns to give the Magpies the lead.
At this point Salford would have been anxiously awaiting the half time whistle, lucky not to be two down as Langstaff crashed a header off the bar from a Palmer cross, inciting a game of pinball in the box.
The whistle did come after five minutes of injury time to the Ammies’ relief, looking to regroup during the break.
Boos echoed around the Peninsula stadium as the players walked off, a reflection of the encroaching discontent from the fans.
While the promise of a fresh half of football could have inspired the Salford players, an injury to Hendry in the 52nd minute compounded their woes further, with Dackers coming on to replace him.
All hope was not lost however, and as the half went on Salford showed some signs of a revival when McAleny hit a good chance wide from a low Ryan Watson cross in the 57th minute, followed by a Matt Smith header minutes later.
Any chance of points for Salford became even slimmer in the 63rd minute when Crowley doubled Notts County’s lead with a weaving run to the edge of the box followed by a sweetly hit low driven shot to the bottom left corner.
One of the few positives from the evening came in the form of a first appearance of the season for Elliot Watt, returning from injury.
The final minutes were dominated by a series of bookings by referee Scott Simpson, sending off both Aaron Nemane and Ammies sub Kevin Berkoe in added time.
The match petered out as the Salford fans filtered out the stadium on the final whistle to the low hum of more boos from the expectant home fans.
FT – Not our night.
[0-2] #SALNOT || @salboyltd pic.twitter.com/AOwRqrZfAr
— Salford City FC (@SalfordCityFC) September 15, 2023
The loss means Salford have failed to pick up any points in four weeks, and could fall down to 21st place in League Two depending on results in Saturday’s games.
Notts County move to the top of the table, now 10 points ahead of Salford with 8 games played so far.
The pressure is firmly on Neil Wood, who will be hoping to turn around his team’s fortunes next week away to Harrogate Town.
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