Salford City 2 - 1 FCUoM

F.C. United of Manchester’s unbeaten start to the season came crashing to an end following a late comeback by Salford City F.C. in this fiercely contested and sometimes feisty match at The Willows, Salford on Tuesday night.
With the kick-off delayed by 30 minutes to allow the bumper 4,000 plus crowd to pay in at the turnstiles, F.C. United looked to impose themselves early on in the game but were continually denied by a hard- working Salford City side.
The best chance of an evenly matched first half for the home side was a dipping 25 yard effort by Salford City No. 8 Dale Whitehead on 21 minutes which rebounded back off the F.C. United crossbar with Sam Ashton well beaten.
And in the final minute of the half, Rory Patterson was unlucky to see his goal-bound shot cleared off the line by Salford City No. 7 Lee McNally after dribbling in unopposed from the right hand corner flag.
With the stalemate continuing into the second half, Liverpool referee A.J. Scragg was being kept busy handing out numerous yellow cards as the game at stages threatened to boil over with a number of late challenges.
With just 11 minutes of normal time remaining on the referee’s watch F.C. United looked to have won the game after Josh Howard latched on to a long free-kick before firing a low shot past Salford ‘keeper Andy Moores.
But a United victory would have tough luck on a battling Salford City side who deserved to take something from the game.
And in the final minute of normal time, Salford City came storming back, to grab an equaliser when substitute Nick Bagguley’s twenty-eight yard free-kick curled into the right hand corner of Sam Ashton’s net much to the delight of the home support in the 4,058 crowd.
And three minutes into extra time, Salford City snatched a dramatic last minute winner when Nick Robinson slipped the ball under the helpless Sam Ashton to give the home side all three points.