Salford City settle for stalemate as promotion push stalls in Gillingham clash

An uninspiring 90 minutes of football saw Salford’s automatic promotion hopes dwindle further as Gillingham’s defensive unit did enough to fend off the hosts.

Karl Robinson opted to shuffle the pack on the back Salford’s away venture against Crewe Alexandra, as Cole Stockton dropped out for Dan Udoh in a like-for-like swap, with Haji Mnoga coming in to make his first start since the loss against Cambridge United.

An unchanged Gills side from their trip to Accrington on Easter Monday came to the Peninsula with a point to prove in a bid to cleanse their record of just a win in their last eight affairs, to face an Ammies side desperate to make some hay in an extremely tight promotion free for all.

A rare splash of life first entered the picture after a relatively mundane opening ten minutes when Rosaire Longelo used his bag of tricks to turn inside and unleash a strike onto the frame of the Gillingham goal, clearly relishing the freedom of his forward position.

It was a start that had a completely different tint to the four goals which had been netted in the opening 25 minutes of last year’s rendition of this fixture, with both hosts and visitors keeping their cards close to their chests early on.

Dan Udoh looked to have opened the game’s account from point blank range when he turned home strike partner Ryan Graydon’s clever ball across goal 25 minutes in, but was dismayed to see the sight of the assistant referee’s flag being raised on his return to the starting 11.

Salford City were forced to settle for a point against Gillingham.

The first half’s main highlight was the Gillingham rearguard unit, 21-year-old Sam Gale sweeping up consistently as Salford’s 70% possession started to fade into more and more of a threat.

An opening period quite fittingly personified by the drab Salford skies, with neither side able to make their case going into the break.

But the home side came bursting out of the blocks for the second half, captain Luke Garbutt trying a cross which landed at the feet of Josh Austerfield at the edge of the box, his half volley flattered to deceive behind a sea of Gills defenders.

The Salford skipper had a second bite at the cherry moments later and what a bite it was, his blistering free kick was thwarted only by the fingertips of Gillingham keeper Glenn Morris, a veteran stopper becoming more and more involved as the minutes ticked by.

The Gill’s reprieve wouldn’t last long either, as Ros Longelo continued to threaten down the right hand side of play, in a synergy with Salford’s season high crowd of 4,303 who more than made their presence clear when piling pressure on the Kent side.

Despite the visitors creeping further into contention, the match would continue in its grey fashion, apart from Remeao Hutton’s snapshot coming inches from beating Salford goalkeeper Matty Young and sending a message with it ten minutes from time.

Jorge Grant induced the loudest groans of the day so far from the Salford faithful, his pure strike whistling by the wrong side of the post, only for former AC Milan and Italy international Fabio Borini to follow up minutes later with his own effort, which saw the same result. It looked as though Salford’s home winning streak of five games was coming to a close.

Just moments from the referee’s final whistle came Rosaire Longelo’s final moment of madness, as his piercing chest-controlled volley stung the palms of Morris in goal, opening up scope for Brandon Cooper to replicate the strike, which just fell short of beating him.