Salford v County: Match Thread (14/03/2024)

Just moved this to the 'First Team' thread, AH. Cheers for posting... not that Crawley on a Monday night is terribly welcome news!

Funny how the fixture lists throw up little quirks.  Our first opponents after Newport ended the winning run was Salford, ending 0-0, at the start of the sticky run which hopefully is coming to an end.  So our first opponents after getting a W v Newport are? Salford, of course.

So what can we tell about them hey?  They sit 20th, with a record of W 10 D 10 L 17 F 53 A 69.  They are 10 points clear of FGR although FGR have a game in hand and have hit some decent form of late.  Their goals F  is mid table level but their goals A is joint worst with Rock Bottom Sutton.  Their H record is poor - W 4 D 6 L 8 F 28 A 37, which puts them 21st in L 2, meaning they get most of their points on the road.

The Ws are FGR (a) 0-2, Tranmere (a) 3-4, Newport (h) 2-1, Sutton (a) 0-2, Crewe (h) 4-2, Donny (a) 0-3, Crawley (a) 0-1, Crewe (a) 2-3, Wrexham (h) 3-1 and Barrow (h) 5-3. The Ds are Crawley (h) 1-1, Swindon (h) 2-2, Barrow (a) 0-0, County (h) 0-0, AFC Wombles (h) 0-0,  FGR (h) 2-2, Bratfut (a) 1-1, Swindon (a) 1-1, Donny (h) 2-2 and Cole U (h) 1-1.  The 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, MKD (h) 2-4, Cole U (a) 2-1, Tranmere (h)) 1-5, Grimsby (h) 0-3, Accy Stanley (a) 3-0, Mansfield (a) 5-1, Gillingham (h) 0-2 and MKD (a) 3-1.

As you'd expect there's not much strength there although they have done a double on Crewe and had back back to back Ws against them and Wrexham which is eye catching, followed soon after by the W against Barrow.  They've scored 3 or more 6 times and been held goalless just 7 times, so they clearly pose a goal threat but only 7 clean sheets, and conceding 3 or more 11 times tells a story of weakness at the back.  Since that 0-0 with County they have W 4 D 6 L 7 conceding 35 goals.

The top scorer is, as I'm sure you'd anticipate, the veteran striker, all 6ft 6 of him Matt Smith on 23.  The old (34) warhorse had previous spells at Millwall, QPR, Fulham, Leeds, Oldham and many more over 16 years.  Next up is fellow forward, and rumoured County target, Callum Hendry, he has 6 so far this season.  He started at Blackburn but then went north of the border for a while, 5 years at St Johnstone (17 goals in 72 apps) and loan spells at Brechin, Aberdeen and Kilmarnock, followed by 18 goals in 57 apps for Salford.  MF Ryan Watson has 5, he has scored 15 in 82 games after signing in 2022.  He was previously at Tranmere, Northampton, MKD and Barnet having started at Wigan in 2011.  MF Conor Macaleny has 4 this term, and has 16 in 71 apps for Salford since signing in 2021.  He had previous spells at Oldham and Fleetwood.  Kelly N'Mai has 3, Matthew Lund has 2 and a further 8 players have each got one goal.

At New Year Salford parted ways with manager Neil Wood, who lead them to the playoffs last season,  after a winless run of 8 games., bringing in Karl Robinson in his place.  He marked his debut by being red carded after just 14 minutes.  He was subsequently charged by the FA with misconduct and fined £500.  He wasted little time in signing 19 year old ex Bur*ley MF Jez Davies, followed by West Ham Winger Dan Chesters on loan.   

The main stories in the January window however were the permanent deal for Odin Bailey to come to EP and a similar move for defender Luke Bolton to join Wrexham.  Salford also have a couple of season long loan players from earlier in the season - West Brom's Ethan Ingram  has  made 9 league apps and Bolton's left WB Declan John has appeared 16 times in L2.

So it all looks fairly modest, and an in form County would be expected to win this but of course County are not really in good form at the moment.  Still an outing against one of the weakest defences in L 2 should be a good chance to regain some form and maybe even get some favourable comments from Sky, if they can get past their love affair with Salford - not likely I admit.

Even so, this has Banana Skin written on it for me, so I'll be keeping those fingers crossed. 

Agreed, Maccy.

Top notch as always, AH.

On a slight tangent with this but how many times have County played on a Thursday night?

I can only think of one when County hosted Boring Boring Reading at EP towards the end of the 1993/4 season, when EP was more like a sand pit than a pristine lawn.... any other Thursday night games?

What the f*** was that, the f***ing space he was given, absolutely shocking defending.

This commentary sounds like Salford FM, it's pure cringeworthy.

Who the f*** is this co-commentator? He's so pro-Salford it's embarrassing.

Sky are a joke.

Does anyone know who this pr**k co-commentator is? f***ing biased doesn't even come close.