Nuneaton Town endured a miserable, rain-soaked, evening in Greater Manchester as they went down 3-0 away to Salford City. The hosts wasted little time in taking the lead, Lois Maynard’s bullet header from Anthony Dudley’s corner in the ninth minute left Dean Lyness no chance in the ‘Boro goal. Dudley doubled the lead with a venomous strike from the edge of the penalty area as Tommy Wright’s men found themselves 2-0 down inside 13 minutes.
‘Boro didn’t capitulate under the early pressure and began to create some chances of their own. Callum Ball forced Max Crocombe into a couple of routine saves and came close to pulling one back for the visitors as he almost latched on to Jon Ashton’s knock down from Ryan Beswick‘s free kick.
Joshua Askew scored Salford’s third with a driven effort across goal that Lyness got a hand to but couldn’t prevent from hitting the back of the net. Askew’s strike came off the back of a goalmouth scramble with Ashton clearing another Maynard header off the line. Joel Dielna fired in a free kick before half time that Crocombe gathered at the second attempt and Tom Elliott shot narrowly over as Nuneaton looked to pull one back before the break.
The second half passed largely without incident, Dielna was perhaps lucky not to see red for the second time in four days, Referee Samuel Barrott reached into his pocket but decided that a yellow card was sufficient punishment for what looked like a wild lunge. Ashton was also booked, his caution was the result of a fairly even looking tussle with Mike Phenix. The Assistant Manager, and towering centre-half was later replaced by Mitchell Glover after sustaining a head injury.
Next up for Nuneaton are King Lynn Town on Saturday the 16th of September. The Linnets visit the LDJ Solicitors Stadium in the second qualifying round of the FA Cup, coming off the back of their first defeat of the season, 2-0 away to Royston Town in the Evo-Stik League South.
# | Team | Pl | Pts |
11. | Darlington | 35 | 46 |
12. | Bradford Park Avenue | 33 | 45 |
13. | Nuneaton Town | 34 | 44 |
14. | Leamington | 33 | 41 |
15. | FC United Of Manchester | 35 | 41 |
16. | Boston United | 32 | 40 |
17. | Tamworth | 35 | 39 |