Salford City were dumped out of the the League Cup at Moor Lane but club bosses will find hope from an attendance that nearly topped 1,000.
After wowing the footballing world last week with a stunning FA Cup victory live on the BBC, a much changed Ammies side took on Trafford FC in the Integro Doodson cup.
This clearly wasn’t the team that dispatched League Two Notts County.
Trafford started the brighter and after only 7 minutes took the lead when Dimitri Tuanzebe struck a shot from all of 15 yards out and over the head of Salford keeper Ben Purdham to take the lead.
Salford didn’t look able to settle, and Trafford had the lions share of possession in the opening 20 minutes.
After 35 minutes, Trafford doubled their lead after a Chris Palmer cross was met by Ashley Stott and Purdham was unable to keep the ball in his hands.
Salford started to press and were seeing more of the ball as the half wore on, but Trafford looked livelier, and after captain Tunji Moses brought down Tuanzebe on 40 minutes, it looked as if Salford would go into the break three down, but the tall centre forward scuffed the ball high over the bar.
The second half began with Trafford looking the more likely to extend their lead, but it was Salford who next had the ball in the net on 65 minutes, Richie Allen harshly denied for handball in the build up.
Just two minutes later and Joe Mwasile pulled one back for Salford, the home side starting to look like they might stage an heroic fightback, but it was not to be.
Trafford made Salford fight for every second of possession and were unlucky not to improve on 2-1 towards the end.
However, a healthy crowd of 998 were here to see the game, an improvement on an average gate of 600.
Anthony Johnson said last week Salford “could have sold 10,000 tickets” to their FA Cup win
It looks like TV exposure – both in documentary and live form – has started to reap rewards for the club.
Image: Jay Lynch – SCFC Youtube
