A second-half goal from newly recruited striker, Matt Smith was the difference between Salford City and Carlisle United on Tuesday night at the Peninsula Stadium.
The goal came from a well-delivered cross from Liam Shephard, who swung the ball in to find target man Smith, who guided the ball with a neat header into the bottom corner.
Going into the game, Salford City had just come away from a defeat to Northampton and we’re looking to get back on course in their venture for promotion.
After the game, goalscorer Smith spoke to Salford City’s official website and said: “On the back of a defeat you want a good reaction and I thought start to finish we were the better side”.
The game began with a flurry of chances for the home side, many of which being the product of Ammies number 10, Ashley Hunter showcasing his tricky ability along the left-wing.
One of which was a lofted ball from the wide-area into the direction of Brandon Thomas-Asante, with his shot being stopped by Carlisle United’s goalkeeper, Mark Howard. However he failed to keep hold of the ball causing into ricochet towards Smith, who’s half volley unluckily, fumbled over the bar.
Salford had their opponents on the ropes with another Asante shot blocked heroically by former Everton and Sunderland defender, Morgan Feeney. However it felt it would be only a matter of time until the deadlock would be broken.
After the interval, a similar story took place with Salford dominating the ball, eventually leading to a shot from Steven Kelly being which was blocked by the hand of the cumbrians number 12, John Mellish.
The spot-kick was calmly put away by other January signing, Ryan Watson, slotting the ball into the far corner, leaving Howard with very small chance of saving.
Later in the half a clever one-two move between Jordan Gibson and Lewis Alexandra exposed a gap in the Ammies defence, picking out striker, Omari Patrick who tapped the ball between the legs of goalkeeper, Tom King, making the scores level.
In the end, Salfords quality shone through, more specifically Matt Smiths experience and awareness in the box got the Salfordians back into the lead with just over 10 minutes of play to go.
⏱️| FULL TIME
January signings Watson and Smith grab their first goals for Salford and three points in the process!
Salford 2-1 Carlisle
#WeAreSalford🦁🔴 pic.twitter.com/FMVoiRVngP
— Salford City FC (@SalfordCityFC) February 1, 2022
The tie ended 2-1 to the home side and the win leaves the reds with in touching distance of the playoff spots, with match-winner Smith urging more consistency going forward.
“We can’t keep going win, loss, win, loss, we need to start putting wins together. So Saturdays our next one and the most important one and hopefully we can do that”.
This Saturday Salford City take on Port Vale at home, who are currently sitting above Salford on only goal difference, so there’s a real opportunity to leap from The Valiants and get one step closer to their ultimate goal: promotion. Tickets are still on sale on the clubs official website.
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