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Colchester United 2-1 Salford City: late pressure not enough to rescue point for Ammies

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Photo from Salford City Twitter

It was a disappointing night in Essex for Salford City as they fell to another league defeat at the hands of Colchester United.

Neil Wood’s side fell to defeat despite a number of chances late on as their loss made it seven league games without a win. The Ammies will now have gone two calendar months without a win.

Colchester went closest on two minutes when Alex Cairns failed to deal with a cross into the box and Jayden Fevrier’s shot flashed across goal.

With the two sides separated by just three points, it was always going to be an evenly matched contest and the game was proving just that with neither side troubling the opposition keeper after the first fifteen minutes.

Salford’s only real chance in the opening twenty came as Ryan Watson’s strike from 20 yards was hit into the midriff of Owen Goodman in the Colchester net.

Goodman was forced into a big save as Salford got their first big chance of the game ten minutes before half-time with Kelly N’Mai and Conor McAleny combining to go through on goal but the latter was unable to find a way past the Colchester goalkeeper.

A huge block was required from Curtis Tilt five minutes before the half from point-blank range to keep the scores level and deflect the ball behind for a corner.

However, there was nothing Tilt could do two minutes later as Cameron McGeehan’s cross rolled across to Joe Taylor whose scuffed shot found its way past Alex Cairns and into the bottom corner.

Salford went into halftime a goal down with neither side playing to their full potential.

The second half continued in a similar vein as Salford made another goal-line block from a Colchester United corner. Curtis Tilt went close shortly after with an audacious overhead kick that whistled just past the post.

Ten minutes into the half Cairns was forced into a smart save yet again when Jayden Fevrier skipped past a number of defenders before McGeehan fired low but the Salford keeper got down quickly.

Matt Smith was introduced on the stroke of the hour alongside Matty Lund for N’mai and Liam Humbles as Wood looked to tweak his approach.

Alex Cairns was needed again as his fingertips denied Fevrier’s curling low effort. Salford badly needed some attacking rhythm.

Matty Lund’s introduction was proving a breath of fresh air for Salford as his hard work won the ball back high up the pitch for Salford before curling an effort just over from distance.

The hosts looked to have put the final nail in the coffin with one minute of normal time to play as Ethan Ingram’s loose pass on halfway was picked up by Colchester sub Joel Akinde who played in Chay Cooper, coolly slotting home to put Colchester United two goals to the good.

Conor McAleny gave the hosts a scare when, almost immediately from kick-off, he buried a powerful effort in the Colchester net from 25 yards with six minutes of added time to play. An impressive goal which deserved to be far more than a consolation.

The Ammies nearly had a late leveller as Smith’s header was held by Goodman with just two minutes of added time to play.

The late pressure was not to be enough and Salford were beaten on the road as their winless streak stretched to seven league games.

The 114 fans who made the 9-hour round trip deserved better than what was served up to them on the night. The Ammies now have the worst form in the league over the last five games, barring the bottom two clubs.

Salford will have another chance to break their winless streak as they host Tranmere Rovers on Boxing Day at 3pm.

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