A HATRICK from Jordan Hulme helped Salford City to an emphatic 5-0 win over league leaders Fylde in the Vanarama National League North on Saturday.
The deadlock was broken by a Priestley header after 13 minutes, before Hulme grabbed his first only two minutes later.
Mike Phenix turned in the third after 76 minutes and two more goals from Hulme in added time saw the game end with the score at 5-0.
Over the course of the 90 minutes Fylde offered little going forward, with Salford’s Lynch in goal rarely being threatened.
Early on it did not look like that would be the case however.
Fylde began the game pressing very high and the tactic won them a couple of early corners.
The first, which came in only the second minute, found a Fylde man totally unmarked at the far post, but the flag was up for a Salford free kick before he could turn it in.
The second, which came after nine minutes, saw a Fylde header parried off the line by Lynch in goal.
That however, was the only clear chance Fylde had all game.
Four minutes later Salford took the lead when a long throw following a corner found Priestley, who glanced the ball inside the far post nicely.
Two minutes later the lead was doubled.
A corner, whipped in from the right by Salford’s new loan signing Green was initially cleared.
The clearance only found Hulme however. His first time shot from the edge of the area found a gap in the crowd and nestled into the bottom left corner.
Fylde’s influence on the game then rapidly diminished in a performance that will no doubt have bitterly dissapointed the league leaders.
Salford meanwhile, consistently exploited Josh Hine’s ability to launch long throws into the box.
Another four such throws were cast into the box between the 19th and 21st minutes but the resultant chances were not taken.
Little did it matter however as Fylde failed to record another shot on target for the rest of the half and Salford went in at the break 2-0 to the good.
One might have expected a Fylde resurgence in the second half but it wasn’t to be.
Yet another Hine long throw in the 46th minute was half cleared to Salford’s Brough, but unlike Priestley in the first half he could not direct his header on target.
It went from bad to worse for Fylde as on the hour mark winger Bohan Dixon was deemed to have dived in the box by the referee and was shown a yellow card for his troubles.
Fylde desperately tried to gain a foothold in the game but Salford’s direct attacking play was simply too much for them.
After 76 minutes Salford’s best move of the game saw Phenix turn in a Josh Hine cross at the far post to make it 3-0.
By this point the game was won but Salford refused to take their foot off the gas and Hulme bagged two more in injury time for his hatrick.
The first came in the 90th minute when Hulme found himself in the right place at the right time to tap in after Salford’s initial shot cannoned off the post.
Then in the 93rd minute substitute Nick Haughton was brought down for a penalty.
Hulme dispatched it with a cheeky chip down the middle to seal his hatrick and the win for the Ammies.
The result means Salford City move to second in the Vanarama National League North on 53 points, while the gap between them and Fylde in first is now cut to nine points.
After the game joint Salford manager Anthony Johnson said: “We expected to win.
“If someone would have said we’d win 5-0, we probably wouldn’t have believed it.
“Nobody does that to Fylde.”
Talking about the start of the match he said: “The first ten minutes was awful.
“They had us on the back foot a bit but we said before the game that their centre halves aren’t the quickest.
“We killed them at times.”
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