County v Salford City: Match Thread (28/11/2023)
Nov 26, 2023 13:51:52 GMT
gazz, dudleyhatter, and 1 more like this
Post by autistichatter on Nov 26, 2023 13:51:52 GMT
OK, so winning run over, and now it's on to Salford City, whom we have played a fair few times in the last 12months.
Even so, who are they, you rightly ask. Well they currently sit 17th with a record of P 19 W 6 D 3 L 10 F 30 A 33: joint 7th (with MKD) on goals scored, but 20th for goals against (only Rock Bottom Sutton, Cole U, Newport and Notts County) have conceded more. Their A record is actually better than their H record. On the road they are W 4 D 1 L 5 F 16 A 15, which puts them 6th in L2. That said, 3 of those road Ws were against bottom 3 sides, the other being v 19th place so it's not nearly as strong as it first looks.
Their Ws are FGR (a) 0-2, Tranmere (a) 3-4, Newport (h) 2-1, Rock Bottom Sutton (a) 0-2, Crewe (h) 4-2 and Disappointing Donny (a) 0-3. Their Ds are Crawley (h) 1-1, Swindon (h) 2-2 and Barrow (a) 0-0. Their Ls are Grimsby (a) 2-0, Accy Stanley (h) 1-2, Morecambe (a) 1-0, Walsall (h) 1-2, Notts County (h) 0-2, Harrogate (a) 3-2, Wrexham (a) 3-2, Mansfield (h) 1-2, Gillingham (a) 3-1 and MKD (h) 2-4.
That's a very modest record, with all their Ws except Crewe are against sides in the bottom half of the table and most of their games against top teams were an L. They score goals, especially Matt Smith (see below), but they've kept just 4 clean sheets and conceded 2 or more 10 times.
Their top scorer on 14 is, as mentioned, 6ft 6 Matt Smith, who started out at New Mills, then played for Oldham, Leeds, Fulham, QPR, Millwall... 128 career goals in 469 apps, so a bit of a warhorse. Next highest scorers on 3 are striker Callum Hendry (rumoured to be a County target, he has 15 goals in 46 apps for Salford as well playing for a clutch of Scottish clubs) and (MF) Ryan Watson (13 goals in 70 apps for Salford, he's also played for Barnet, MKD and Northampton among others). Kelly N'Mai has scored twice and five others have each scored once. So very one dimensional in terms of threats.
Obviously three of their side from last season are at (or have played for) County this term and a few other players left in the summer. Coming in during the summer they signed Fleetwood's GK Alex Cairns after a loan spell last season, they also added Ex-Everton veteran LB Luke Garbutt from Blackpool, MF Ossama Ashley from Cole U, veteran D Curtis Tilt from Wigan, Winger Connor McLennan signed from Aberdeen and GK Joe Wright on loan until January from Millwall. On Deadline day they signed Ds Ethan Ingram from WBA on season long loan and Declan John from Bolton on loan until January.
So even though they signed all those Ds they seem unable to consistently keep a clean sheet. So assuming County play anything like their normal, it's hard to see Salford coming away with even 1 point, never mind 3.
Meanwhile, elsewhere in L2:
7th placed Accy Stanley v 10th placed Swindon
5th placed Barrow v 18th placed Walsall
9th placed Gillingham v 8th placed AFC Wombles
15th placed Harrogate v 2nd placed Wrexham
3rd placed Mansfield v 22nd placed Tranmere
6th placed Notts County v 11th placed Crawley
Rock Bottom Sutton v 4th placed Crewe.
This would be a good time to get back to winning ways: fingers crossed it's not another banana skin.
Even so, who are they, you rightly ask. Well they currently sit 17th with a record of P 19 W 6 D 3 L 10 F 30 A 33: joint 7th (with MKD) on goals scored, but 20th for goals against (only Rock Bottom Sutton, Cole U, Newport and Notts County) have conceded more. Their A record is actually better than their H record. On the road they are W 4 D 1 L 5 F 16 A 15, which puts them 6th in L2. That said, 3 of those road Ws were against bottom 3 sides, the other being v 19th place so it's not nearly as strong as it first looks.
Their Ws are FGR (a) 0-2, Tranmere (a) 3-4, Newport (h) 2-1, Rock Bottom Sutton (a) 0-2, Crewe (h) 4-2 and Disappointing Donny (a) 0-3. Their Ds are Crawley (h) 1-1, Swindon (h) 2-2 and Barrow (a) 0-0. Their Ls are Grimsby (a) 2-0, Accy Stanley (h) 1-2, Morecambe (a) 1-0, Walsall (h) 1-2, Notts County (h) 0-2, Harrogate (a) 3-2, Wrexham (a) 3-2, Mansfield (h) 1-2, Gillingham (a) 3-1 and MKD (h) 2-4.
That's a very modest record, with all their Ws except Crewe are against sides in the bottom half of the table and most of their games against top teams were an L. They score goals, especially Matt Smith (see below), but they've kept just 4 clean sheets and conceded 2 or more 10 times.
Their top scorer on 14 is, as mentioned, 6ft 6 Matt Smith, who started out at New Mills, then played for Oldham, Leeds, Fulham, QPR, Millwall... 128 career goals in 469 apps, so a bit of a warhorse. Next highest scorers on 3 are striker Callum Hendry (rumoured to be a County target, he has 15 goals in 46 apps for Salford as well playing for a clutch of Scottish clubs) and (MF) Ryan Watson (13 goals in 70 apps for Salford, he's also played for Barnet, MKD and Northampton among others). Kelly N'Mai has scored twice and five others have each scored once. So very one dimensional in terms of threats.
Obviously three of their side from last season are at (or have played for) County this term and a few other players left in the summer. Coming in during the summer they signed Fleetwood's GK Alex Cairns after a loan spell last season, they also added Ex-Everton veteran LB Luke Garbutt from Blackpool, MF Ossama Ashley from Cole U, veteran D Curtis Tilt from Wigan, Winger Connor McLennan signed from Aberdeen and GK Joe Wright on loan until January from Millwall. On Deadline day they signed Ds Ethan Ingram from WBA on season long loan and Declan John from Bolton on loan until January.
So even though they signed all those Ds they seem unable to consistently keep a clean sheet. So assuming County play anything like their normal, it's hard to see Salford coming away with even 1 point, never mind 3.
Meanwhile, elsewhere in L2:
7th placed Accy Stanley v 10th placed Swindon
5th placed Barrow v 18th placed Walsall
9th placed Gillingham v 8th placed AFC Wombles
15th placed Harrogate v 2nd placed Wrexham
3rd placed Mansfield v 22nd placed Tranmere
6th placed Notts County v 11th placed Crawley
Rock Bottom Sutton v 4th placed Crewe.
This would be a good time to get back to winning ways: fingers crossed it's not another banana skin.
