Goals before the end of each half from James Wilson and Ash Hunter secured Salford City’s first win in this season’s EFL Trophy, with a 2-0 win against Morecambe on Tuesday night.
Graham Alexander named fives changes to his side that drew 0-0 to Forest Green on Saturday, with the most noticeable of the changes coming in goal as 17-year-old Hayden Evans who made his first team debut, in the place of Václav Hladký.
In the opening stages it was the home side who started brightest and nearly opening the scoring after one minute, when an Ibou Touray free-kick was tipped over the bar by Morecambe goalkeeper Mark Halstead.
Salford were dominant for much of the first half, moving the ball around nicely and looking for that opener, which eventually came for the Ammies on the 44th minute thanks to striker James Wilson.
An attempted shot from the Ex-Manchester United man was blocked on the first attempt, but he reacted quickest to the rebound to slam the ball home.
The second half started with much more urgency from the visitors as they grew into the game in search of an equaliser .
Morecambe striker AJ Leitch-Smith curled an effort just wide of Evans’ goal on the 53rd minute.
Wilson had a great chance to double his side’s lead and his tally on the 72nd Minute, as he turned and shot on the edge of the Morecambe area only to see his effort smartly stopped by Halstead once more.
With 10 minutes to go, Morecambe had a golden chance to equalise as Kelvin Mellor’s header from a corner was brilliantly headed off the line by Salford’s Bruno Andrade.
Alexander made what turned out to be a match-winning substitution five minutes from time, as he introduced Ash Hunter to seal the victory for Salford on the 92nd minute.
Andrade skipped a challenge down the Salford left to tee up Hunter, who simply side-footed confidently into the net.
This win sets up a crunch match between Salford and Rochdale at the Crown Oli Arena on Tuesday 10th November (7:45pm KO), with the winner progressing through the group stages.
Speaking to Salford Now after the game about the importance of the subs and finding the second goal, Alexander stated: “I think we weathered the storm they had but the subs were great in what they had to do.
“Ash came on and showed what he can do with a great finish.”
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