Salford City claimed their first win in the Northern Premier League against 10-man Matlock Town on Tuesday night.
Last season’s top scorer Gareth Seddon opened the scoring shortly after half time, with Matlock then having Adam Yates sent off minutes later for a second bookable offence.
The Ammies looked comfortable in the Derbyshire hills until substitute Joel Purkiss took advantage of a defensive mishap to level the scores, but a 90th minute winner from captain Chris Lynch ensured Salford returned home to Moor Lane with all three points.
Teams out here at the Autoworld Arena! @Matlock_TownFC host @SalfordCityFC in the #NPL #TheAmmies pic.twitter.com/7xubt1GyeO
— Will Moorcroft (@willtm10) August 18, 2015
Despite Saturday’s 0-0 draw at home to Marine leaving managers Anthony Johnson and Bernard Morley unable to fathom how they didn’t win, the duo stuck with the same starting line-up and within a minute Gary Stopforth found space for a shot, but Gladiators goalkeeper Lewis King was content to watch it run past the post.
Salford were once again dominant from the outset with Matlock trying to interrupt their visitors’ rhythm rather than enforcing their own game, but even that didn’t work as The Ammies peppered King’s goal with balls from out wide and down the middle.
Seddon went close with an acrobatic bicycle kick that went wide, before hitting a shot over the bar from the edge of the area, and Jordan Hulme had a shot blocked by Harry Coates with Scott Burton’s follow-up being saved by King.
The hosts finally managed a shot in the 39th minute, although full back Oscar Radford’s attempt may have been better suited to play against Salford Red Devils as it rose high and over the bar.
Salford again stuck at what they had been doing in the first half when they came out for the second, and within four minutes they were rewarded after some fantastic work by Hulme and summer signing Stephen O’Halloran on the left opened up the space for Hulme to cross, with Seddon waiting in the middle to glance the header past King.
By @SalfordFCPhotos
The hosts were then put at a further disadvantage when Yates was given his marching orders after a high boot caught Lynch in the mid-riff, although that didn’t stop manager Mark Hume making two attacking substitutions, which paid off when Purkiss equalised things with ten minutes remaining.
A long ball forward from Liam Needham should have been cleared by Steve Howson, but the defender mis-judged the flight and after knocking it on, Purkiss beat Lynch to the ball before slotting it past Jay Lynch into the far corner, which disappointingly for Salford was Matlock’s first attempt on target.
Keen to make amends for his part in the equaliser, Lynch attempted a bicycle kick before Hulme blasted a chance wide with The Gladiators hoping to battle through to the end, and they even had a chance of their own when substitute Nathan Forbes-Swindells found space for a shot from distance that Jay Lynch comfortably saved.
But Salford weren’t content for a point, and after a corner seemed to be glanced the wrong way by Howson, Hulme drilled the ball back into the box, and it was then up to Lynch to poke it past King and spark ecstatic celebrations from the bench.
By @SalfordFCPhotos
After the match, joint manager Bernard Morley said: “We were knocking on the door from the first minute.
“We possibly should have been 3-0 up at half time and the keeper’s made a couple of good saves, but we got in at half time, 0-0, and we addressed what we thought was going wrong, how we could improve, and the lads took it on board.”
“It’s that ‘never say die’ attitude sort of thing; we knew it might take us to the 90th minute and we did, so fair play to the lads for chipping away at them.”
There was also praise for the way the team, and particularly Chris Lynch, kept up their morale despite conceding late on.
“Lynchy’s got a good goal,” said Morley, “I don’t know if he was at fault for that second one, but for him to go and get a goal at the other end it’s great, and it just sums up there’s goals in the side, and I think it’s only a matter of time before it clicks.”
Salford City: J Lynch, Smalley, O’Halloran, Stopforth, Howson, C Lynch (c), Burton (Clark ’60), Moses, Webber (Mwasile 74), Seddon (Chadwick 90+4).
