On The Road: Salford City

Club Historian Phil Yelland examines the record books to find out how The Bluebirds have got on during previous trips to Salford City ahead of the Boxing Day encounter.

Monday's game represents only our fourth competitive game against Salford City at Moor Lane, now named The Peninsula Stadium.

Our first was on August Bank Holiday in 2018 in the National League. The Ammies had just won promotion to the division and won the game 3-1. Our consolation goal that day came from Jason Taylor’s great strike from the edge of the box – his first goal for the Club.

We had played once before at the venue in a pre-season friendly in August 2010 when, with a team mainly made up of trialists, we won 2-0. The goals came from Ben Beresford (who subsequently played for The Ammies) and Andy Morley. Our joint manager that night was Darren Sheridan, who managed City for just over half a season after leaving Barrow.

A poor game on a cold February night in 2021 saw us lose 1-0 to City. The fixture marked what was to be Lewis Hardcastle’s last appearance for the Club before he had to announce his retirement due to health issues. Hardcastle is now back in the game as Head Coach of Daisy Hill in the North West Counties First Division.

Last season saw the hosts snatch a late point, as The Bluebirds were held to a 2-2 draw under the management of Phil Brown.

Second half strikes from Josh Gordon and Aaron Amadi-Holloway seemed to have put Brown’s battlers on course for a crucial victory after Ryan Watson’s deflected shot had seen The Ammies lead at the break.

However, City substitute Ian Henderson nabbed an 89^th minute leveller for the home side and the near-1000 travelling fans had to be content with a point.

Let’s hope we can snatch our first competitive win at The Peninsula Stadium on Monday.