My first visit to EFL new boys Salford City & their small but impressive Peninsula Stadium on Saturday for only their second home League Two game against John Askey’s Port Vale side on a warm sunny late summer afternoon.

Formations:

Salford went 4-1-3-2 with Lois Maynard in a holding midfield role.

Vale went 4-3-3 with Amoo & Montano either side of Vale’s talismanic striker Tom Pope.

First half:

The game started at a fast pace & after a tentative foray forward by the hosts, Vale were almost ahead in only the 2nd minute with Montano’s close range effort saved well by Chris Neal in the Ammies goal following hesitancy in the home team’s defence. Back came the hosts & midfielder Richie Towell had a shot blocked when well positioned on eight minutes. Towell was seeing a lot of the early action & his 13th minute effort from range was only just over the bar from a Danny Whitehead free kick as the host’s continued to set the early pace. Vale started to grow into the game however & after Nathan Smith had blasted a shot well over the dangerous Montano was only just wide with a rasping effort on 24 minutes with Neal beaten. The game was getting a little bogged down in midfield which affected the flow of the game but out of nothing City striker Adam Rooney lashed on to Joey Jones cross which produced a brilliant save from Vale stopper Scott Brown on 37 minutes & this proved to be the last significant action of a disappointing first period.

HT Salford 0 Vale 0

Salford’s Wembley hero Manny Dieseruvwe became the first player in the book with a bad challenge on Vale’s experienced CB Leon Legge at the start of the second half. Montano was continuing to look dangerous for the visitors as they upped the pace & had a shot blocked well by CB Piergianni before midfielder David Worrall was only just wide from range .On the hour striker Tom Pope who wasn’t having the best of games had a good header saved by Neal as Vale continued the ascendancy they held since the interval.

Ammies boss brought on Rory Gaffney to replace the out of sorts Rooney on 65 minutes to try & reignite the hosts as an attacking force but it was Vale that continued to look the more likely to score & after a couple of unproductive corners Pope’s header was again comfortably saved by Neal. A Towell free kick was only just too high in a rare Ammies attack on 72 minutes before Ritchie Bennett replaced Pope for the visitors on 78 minutes & within three minutes of his introduction was celebrating giving Vale the lead on 81 minutes, taking Worrall’s ball & finishing expertly following a swift counter attack.

It had been a stop start game with plenty of injury stoppages & referee Mr Backhouse had ordered six minutes added time & in the first of them Bennett should have made the game safe for Vale but hit his drive straight at Neal after being put clean through on goal by the excellent Montaro. Vale would rue this missed opportunity & on 93 minutes the hosts drew level. An innocuous free kick around 35 yards from goal saw Salford pack the penalty area & when the set piece was floated in by substitute Tom Walker, fellow substitute Jake Beesley rose highest to beat Brown & his defence to give the hosts a barely deserved point.

FT Salford 1 Vale 1

The 1400 Vale fans would have been disappointed in leaving the ground with a point when their second half performance merited a win but 1-0 going into injury time is the most precarious of leads & you have to credit Salford for not giving in & keeping going to the last whistle.

Although City’s side is packed with players with bags of EFL experience it should be noted that the vast majority of them were playing National League football last season so an early season struggle with the step up in class is perhaps to be expected. As for Vale, if they can reproduce their second half performance in this game more regularly a better season beckons.

words Ian Bradley, D3D4 roving reporter