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Salford City strike late equaliser to extend unbeaten run

By on in Football, Salford City, Sport

Luke Garbutt struck a spectacular free kick to salvage a point for Salford City late on against Doncaster Rovers.

With time running out and Karl Robinson facing his first loss as the Ammies boss, Salford’s left-back produced a moment of real quality, curling the ball over the wall into the top corner past the helpless Lo-Tutala to secure a 2-2 draw.

The home side came into the game a place above Doncaster Rovers in the League Table, yet expectations for the Ammies were high following their recent run of positive form.

Rejuvenated under the stewardship of Robinson, Salford have recently established a gap between themselves and the teams at the bottom of the division.

Yet in the side’s display against the South Yorkshire outfit, there were real echoes of the poor performances that dragged the club down the table earlier in the campaign.

While Doncaster Rovers named an unchanged team following their win against Tranmere, Karl Robinson rewarded forward Callum Hendry for his last-minute equaliser against Swindon in the previous game. Plagued by injuries this season, Hendry was named in the starting eleven for the first time since September.

In a scrappy first period, Luke Molyneux was an identifiable spark for Doncaster Rovers, through the attacker’s wing play the away side made the breakthrough on 12 minutes.

Receiving the ball tight to the left-hand touchline, the winger drove past Declan John and fired a tantalising ball across the six-yard box. Unfortunately for Salford City, centre-back Curtis Tilt was slow to react to the danger and could only divert the ball past Cairns into his own goal.

There was a sense of Deja Vu for fans present in the Peninsuala stadium, Salford manufactured an instant response moments later, their equaliser came in near identical fashion to Doncaster’s opener.

Muamba turned provider for The Ammies, emulating the work of Molyneux minutes before. The lively attacker drifted past Jamie Sterry and saw his low ball-in deflected into the Doncaster goal by Rover’s captain Richard Wood.

In testing conditions, both sides laboured to create clear-cut chances. Referee Martain Woods failed to ingratiate himself with either of the coaching teams, Karl Robinson was booked by the official in a first half that deteriorated in quality as both teams began to commit regular fouls to stunt the progression of the opposition.

Despite the stop-start flow continuing past the interval the away side managed to battle their way into the ascendancy.
Much the better side in the second half, Doncaster Rovers re-established their advantage through the first real chance after the break.

Neat work down the left-hand flank by Matthew Craig opened the space for January signing Hakeeb Adelakun to fire low into the bottom corner.

Buoyed by their goal, Grant McCann’s team went in search of a third to kill the game off.

Soon after getting on the scoresheet, Adelakun was at the centre of the action and could have doubled his tally on the night. Slipped through from midfield, the attacker over-ran the ball when one-on-one with Cairns.

Salford capitalised on the chances missed by the visitors. Garbutt stands over his free-kick. Credit: Edward Hayton

Outperforming their lowly League position, the away side piled on the pressure and continued to maintain a territorial advantage.

When Richard Wood prodded home Harrison Biggins’s cross from the right, Rovers’ efforts finally looked to have paid off, however, McCann’s men were to be denied by the linesman flag.

One of the hallmarks of Salford’s recent performances has been a strong finish. Despite being on the back foot throughout the second half, The Ammies were rewarded for their reluctance to lie down under pressure, Luke Garbutt’s near-perfect freekick could not have come at a better time for Karl Robinsons’ side.

His equaliser means that Salford’s unbeaten run extends to seven games, however, The Ammies will have to be much improved if they are to continue scaling the table.

With this draw both Salford and Doncaster remain in the same League positions they occupied before the game.

Salford City are back at the Peninsula stadium for their next match, Karl Robinsons team face 5th placed Barrow on Saturday (Kickoff is at 3 pm).

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