Salford City will set out to right their wrongs this Saturday after a rollercoaster Easter weekend of action when they welcome Gillingham to the Peninsula Stadium.
Despite sitting relatively comfortably inside the League Two play-off positions, the Ammies return home to continue their pursuit of an elusive automatic promotion spot, one which faded further away following a pedestrian performance away to Crewe Alexandra on Easter Monday.
The defeat was described by Head Coach Karl Robinson post-match as “below-par” as he reflected on the 1-0 loss.
It was Stoke City loanee Emre Tezgel whose strike in the opening quarter of an hour proved the match’s telling touch.
A Salford strike partnership of star January signing Ryan Graydon and Cole Stockton were unable to convert from the chances created, and the Ammies’ struggle to rotate due to injury troubles was evident after the 90 minutes.
The lacklustre nature of the trip to The Mornflake stadium was unlike Salford’s game against promotion rivals Notts County on Good Friday.
A 93rd-minute Ryan Graydon header only opened the scoring, before Matt Butcher’s expert half-volley cancelled out Luke Browne’s equalising leap moments later, sending the Salford crowd into rapture for the second time in the space of 3 minutes.
The late Salford push in that latest home clash came courtesy of the highest crowd of the season so far, with 4,011 spectators piling in to see the top of the table face-off between the sides.
“It’s very pleasing, this place is small, but when it gets going it’s rocking and I think our fans are getting behind us in a really positive way,” Robinson said after the match.
In a similar vein, this Saturday’s match against Gillingham is expected to be the season’s first sell-out crowd, after the club have reduced ticket prices for this weekend only to the rates that would be charged a century ago.
The move comes as an incentive to boost crowds and fan involvement with matches, and bring in local fans who don’t always attend matches to join and support the team.
Salford come into the weekend still with sights locked on automatic promotion, and sit just three points behind third and second Notts County and MK Dons, opponents that Salford have beaten at home across the past five matches, both thanks to Matt Butcher strikes from the edge of the box.
Despite being safe from the drop positioned lower mid-table in League Two, Gareth Ainsworth’s men arrive at the Peninsula in a dismal state of form, with Easter Monday’s home victory over Accrington Stanley ending a seven-match run without a win.
Any of the fans inside the maximum capacity crowd who may be crying out for an explosive game after the events away at Crewe on Monday will be hoping for something similar to last year’s mirror fixture of Saturday’s match in April 2025.
It was Elliott Nevitt whose second-minute opener was instantly cancelled out by Cole Stockton at the near post, before Remeao Hutton returned the favour from Right-Back, swiftly levelling the scores in response to Kelly N’Mai’s strike to make it 2-2 inside 25 minutes.
October’s meeting between the sides saw strikes from Dan Udoh and currently injured Kallum Cesay take all three points from the voyage to Priestfields, and Karl Robinson’s men will certainly be looking to replicate this as the Ammies’ hunt for League One status rolls on.
