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  Warrington Town 4 Salford City FC 2
By Andy Giblin.
Hopes of the play-offs for Salford City now appear to have all but disappeared following a disappointing January that has yielded just two points from four league matches. It would take a gargantuan effort and a sharp improvement in form for the Ammies to make the top five now, and in all honesty there was little sign from this match that such a transition is imminent. There was a debut this afternoon for young keeper Danny Jackson, and Josh Bardsley returned to the centre of defence with skipper Darren Hockenhull reverting to right-back in place of Craig Flowers. Adam Morning made a welcome return to action and Jamie Baguley was also restored to the starting line-up, taking a berth in the midfield. It was a bright, cold afternoon at Cantilever Park and the visitors emerged from a scrappy start to create the game's first chance of note. Gavin Salmon was relishing the challenge of facing his old team-mates and he capitalised on a mix-up between Wire keeper Paul Pritchard and his defence to pick up possession on the right-hand angle of the box. Salford's top-scorer tried his luck with an ambitious, but beautifully judged lob that soared high before dropping towards the target but home defender River Humphreys had positioned himself well to make a headed clearance. A promising start, and soon afterwards Salmon was almost sent clear when James Ogoo threaded through a perfect pass only for Humphreys to rescue his side again with a superbly timed challenge. Warrington's first-half was to be disrupted by injury, with both Allan Collins and Chris Thompson withdrawn before the break but they shrugged the enforced changes aside to gradually assume control. Full-back Michael Duffy collected a short-corner on the right, and his pass into the box found Lee Madin. The angled shot was powerful and seemed to heading inside Danny Jackson's left-hand post until it took a deflection that spun the ball wide for a corner. Minutes later Kyle Hamid's inch-perfect lobbed pass into the Salford box picked out Thompson although he seemed to scuff his low shot from an angle on the right and Jackson was able to claim the ball at the foot of his near post. The danger signs were there for an out-of-sorts Salford side who were defending very deep and leaving acres of space for Warrington to exploit. In the 19th minute the Wire won a free-kick just outside the Salford box and from the right ex-Ammie favourite Matty Cross sent the set-piece a yard or so over Jackson's crossbar. Cross had scored direct from a corner during his sides 1-0 win at Farsley the previous week and almost added another memorable strike to his portfolio just a minute later. Salford keeper Jackson did well to mop up a Warrington attack, and his punted clearance seemed to do the job as it dropped to Cross just inside the Salford half. The full-back had spotted his chance though, and with Jackson out of position he sent a low shot towards the Salford goal from 40 yards out, and an off-balance Raphale Evans just managed to poke the ball away. Jackson arrived on the scene to complete the clearance, and Cross was denied his second spectacular strike in a week. There had been relatively little happening at the other end although in the 27th minute James Ogoo needed a couple of minutes treatment after bravely contesting a high ball with home keeper Paul Pritchard. With the incident occurring outside the box and Ogoo not having control of the ball Pritchard escaped with a yellow card and on this occasion justice was probably done. Otherwise it seemed only a matter of time before Warrington's inventive attacks paid a dividend and they duly took the lead with 34 minutes on the clock. Town had won a corner when Alex Mortimer had to nudge Liam Shipton's cross clear of danger, and the set-piece was whipped in from the right. Substitute Dale Wright stooped to send a header towards goal and the ball clipped off the inside of Jackson's right-hand post before dropping into the net. There was little response from Salford, and a confident Warrington doubled their lead with 5 minutes to play before the interval. Another Shipton cross came in from the left, and Madin pulled away from his marker to head the ball back across the face of goal. Nobody wearing an Ammies shirt managed to get a touch but Wright lunged in to plant a header into the net, recording his second goal of the match into the bargain. That might have been game over for the visitors, but Wright's second of the day ushered in an astonishing purple attacking patch for the Ammies. In the 42nd minute the Wire defence failed to deal with a bobbling ball and Adam Morning was away, eventually sending in a shot that deflected to safety off Pritchard's feet. From the very next attack Chris Curley lofted a right-flank cross into the box and Scott Metcalfe got up well to head the ball into the danger area. Pritchard and his defence did not clear their lines and Salmon took control of the ball, went wide of the prone goalkeeper and tucked the chance inside his right-hand post from close-range. 'The Fish' enjoyed that one, and Salford's joy was complete sixty seconds later as they dramatically pulled themselves level. Mortimer's pass up the left was a simple one, but Morning's speed of thought and movement gave him the chance to sprint clear of the defence and this time his angled shot from the left was spot-on as it flew across Pritchard before finding the net just inside his far post. A remarkable, and in all honesty an unlikely comback for the Ammies but they went into the half-time break on level terms. Could they repeat that late burst of form in the second half ? HALF TIME: WARRINGTON TOWN 2 SALFORD CITY 2 Well, no as it turned out. The second forty-five minutes started quietly and in the 51st minute Salford's Curley limped out of the action to be replaced by Cayne Hanley. Seconds after that Morning's trickery on the left gave him a chance to pick a cross, and he dropped the ball directly onto the head of Salmon, unmarked and six yards out from goal. It wasn't a bad header but Pritchard made a good, holding save to his left and the ex-Warrington striker was left holding his head in disbelief as a golden chance had gone begging. Morning looked to be Salford's best attacking bet at this point, and his next jinking run culminated in a low drive that took a deflection or two before the sprawling Pritchard pushed the ball outside his far post. Ben Beresford and Danny Heffernan came on for the Ammies, but it was Warrington who grabbed the initiative as the half progressed. Madin's neat 71st minute touch gave Nick Jackson a decent sight of goal but his 18 yard shot was deflected wide off the leg of a defender. Generally the home side were playing the better football, and Salford's defence wasn't looking particularly assured as the pressure began to grow. With 14 minutes left Duffy dropped a long pass into the Salford area and Madin's unselfish nudge gave Jackson another chance. This time the lively midfielder made no mistake, drilling a low 15-yarder past Danny Jackson and into the net. There was little in return from the Ammies, and as Warrington continued to press they grabbed a clinching fourth goal 6 minutes from time. Again the visiting defence was all at sea as a cross came in from the right, and Madin controlled before turning and placing a low finish into Jackson's bottom right-hand corner. There were more chances for the home side and Wright came close to his hat-trick, slamming in a 25-yard shot that Jackson did well to push around his right-hand upright. Not a great afternoon for Salford City, who in the end were well beaten by the better side. The concern is that their level of performance is far below the pre-New Year standards, and that whilst Warrington were the better side they are by no means a great one. Rhodri Giggs and Phil Melville have some real work to do to turn around what had been a very promising season, starting with the visit of Clitheroe next Saturday. It may already be too late for the play-offs, but a best ever finishing position would still make the season a successful one. TEAMS: WARRINGTON TOWN: 1) Paul PRITCHARD 2) Michael DUFFY 3) Matty CROSS 4) River HUMPHREYS 5) Tom HARDWICK (c) 6) Kyle HAMID 7) Allan COLLINS 8) Nick JACKSON 9) Lee MADIN 10) Chris THOMPSON 11) Liam SHIPTON 12) Rob HARDWICK (for THOMPSON, 21st min) 14) Dale WRIGHT (for COLLINS, 13th min) 15) Rob WINROW (for JACKSON, 86th min) 16) David NESS SALFORD CITY 1) Danny JACKSON 2) Darren HOCKENHULL (c) 3) Alex MORTIMER 4) Josh BARDSLEY 5) Raphale EVANS 6) James OGOO 7) Adam MORNING 8) Chris CURLEY 9) Gavin SALMON 10) Jamie BAGULEY 11) Scott METCALFE 12) Osebi ABADAKI 14) Danny HEFFERNAN (for METCALFE, 68th min) 15) Ben BERESFORD (for OGOO, 57th min) 16) Cayne HANLEY (for CURLEY, 51st min) 17) David OWENS Booked: Alex Mortimer, James Ogoo Attendance: 147 Scorers: Gavin Salmon 43' Adam Morning 44' Due to problems with spam only SalfordOnline members can now leave comments. 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