Ammies facing a real pitch battle to win promotion
BOSS Richie Wellens says Salford City’s promotion hopes are being damaged by the state of the pitch at the Peninsula Stadium after they were held to a 1-1 draw at home to Scunthorpe United.
The Ammies spurned the opportunity to gain a dream start inside 11 minutes when Ian Henderson lost his marker and met Ibou Touray’s delightful cross, but the forward uncharacteristically blazed a header from point-blank range over the target.
The travelling Iron – on the back of an impressive midweek victory over promotion-chasing Cambridge United – nearly opened the scoring themselves moments later but Touray did well to clear Jordan Hallam’s goal-bound effort. Shortly after the half-hour mark, the Ammies gained the lead when the busy Touray’s looping corner proved troublesome for former Salford stopper Mark Howard and Tom Clarke was lying in wait to hook the opener into the net.
However, the Ammies advantage was short-lived as on-loan United defender Di’Shon Bernard hauled down Abo Eisa in the penalty area, with the latter stepping up from 12-yards to fire in the leveller minutes before the interval.
A second half low on quality and tempo sparked into life with less than 10 minutes remaining, but substitute Mani Dieseruvwe’s header onto the woodwork from an acute angle was the closest to a winner in the tie.
Salford Boss Richie Wellens said: “The pitch is shocking, it’s awful and we might as well play with a bouncy ball, so I feel for both sets of players.
“When you play on a pitch like that, you’ve got to get it forward and don’t make mistakes.
“Unfortunately for us, they put a ball down the side, and we made a mistake and gave a penalty away at a really bad time.
“If we go in (to half-time) at 1-0, then I’ve got a feeling that we go on to win the game.”
Salford, who could have risen as high as fifth in League Two with victory, drop down to ninth and Wellens said that their pitch problems are a hindrance to the style of play he’s trying to implement.
He said: “It looks like there’s been a game of rugby played on it.
“With the way that we want to play, it’s not conducive to a good game of football.
“You want them to go and express themselves, but on that pitch, the last 15 minutes was like a nonleague game – boot it up to a striker, hope for a second ball, get the ball out wide and cross it – it’s not the way I want to play.
“We’re very disappointed with a point.
“People keep saying we’re unbeaten at home, but I want to win. Rather than draw three games, I’d rather win two and lose one. Draws are killing us at the minute.”