Salford City 0-4 Forest Green Rovers

Salford City 0-4 Forest Green Rovers

Sky Bet League Two

Saturday 28th September 2019

Salford City are currently a shambles both on and off the pitch and I’ve got to admit that today’s result made me quite happy!

It was the stereotypical Greater Manchester Day; wet, raining and downright miserable. The infrastructure the club has (or rather a massive lack of it) is beyond ridiculous and it became apparent to me long before kick-off. The team then delivered a limp and pathetic performance as they were steam-rollered by a very impressive Forest Green Rovers.

The shenanigans began when I arrived at the ground, mid-afternoon, to be informed that the Ticket Office was closed. When I queried why, one of the ‘know it all’ turnstile operators butted in to inform me that it was down to EFL regulations and all EFL clubs have to close their ticket offices on matchdays. Laughable, of course, but even better was when a steward butted in to say ‘The game is sold-out but you can pay cash at the turnstile’ - erm, so it isn’t sold out.

Not having any cash (only a card) meant a trek to Sainsbury’s about a ten-minute walk away in pouring rain, before eventually getting in to see the game.

From my understanding, the Ticket Office at Salford is within a perimeter fence - thus actually inside the ground. Therefore, maybe it’d be an idea to have a pop up portacabin or two adjacent to the turnstiles to sell tickets from on matchdays (assuming the EFL allow it to open in matchdays, of course).

Though the club have got the pricing absolutely right which will certainly help to grow the fanbase (£10 Adults, £5 Concessions), the farcical nature of closing the ticket office in the hours leading up to kick-off hardly sells the club in a positive way. Nowadays, the ‘fan experience’ and customer service are just as crucial as the pricing and when they don’t get it right and use ridiculous excuses it becomes hard for one to not form the impression that the club have utterly incompetent idiots representing them. That, and they’re totally out of their depth!

Anyway, the game wasn’t a sell-out and those inside the ground witnessed an abysmal defensive showing from Salford, as they got ruthlessly exposed.

Forest Green were superb from start to finish and it was as close to the ‘complete’ performance as you can get. Those who played will have earned all manner of bonuses with this result and they’re all totally deserved.

Matty Stevens put them ahead after just three minutes when he converted Joe Mills’ cross, before Aaron Collins capitalised on a defensive howler - intercepting a ridiculous attempted pass by Carl Piergianni inside the area and close to the byline, before carving out an angle for a shot and finishing with great composure.

It was clinical and ruthless from the lad; his first of the season so great on a personal level but the task for him now is to score a 25-yarder similar to the one he got for Notts County against Boreham Wood in the FA Cup, a few years back which I'll always remember him for. He's a player whose name is worth remembering because he has the potential and right attributes to go far.

The visitors continued to move the ball around well, drawing clumsy challenges from their frustrated opponents, and some of the football was a pleasure to see. Salford, put simply, didn’t have any answer to it.

It came as no surprise when the third goal arrived just after the half-hour with Ebou Adams seeing a low 20-yard drive catch a deflection which took it beyond Kyle Letheren’s dive. It was fortunate in the respect that the ball took a deflection, however, you make your own luck in football and Salford could hardly moan considering they barely got the ball out of their own half.

The phrase ‘being torn a new arsehole’ best describes the gulf between the two sides and though Salford did get the ball into the net, it was ruled out due to a linesman’s flag.

After the re-start, Salford had a lot of ‘huff and puff’ and despite FGR’s ‘keeper being booked for timewasting at 3-0, any hopes of a comeback were totally quashed when Rovers bagged a fourth goal with Stevens finishing after some great build up play which heavily involved Collins.

Despite everything, the Ammies (Salford’s nickname) did give it a go in the latter stages, but what pressure they did apply was met with a resilient answer by Matt Mills and the rest of the Forest Green backline to record a much-loved clean-sheet!

Without licking backside, this was a really good, complete display from Forest Green. If they can maintain this level of performance then they’ll smash a few more teams to pieces and promotion (certainly the aim) will be very realistic.Can they do it? Based on this game it's a resounding yes.

For Salford, they’ve now shipped eight goals in two games and Nathan Pond and Piergianni defended more like ‘Bill & Ben, The Flowerpot Men’ at times. It was a public humiliation for them and obvious questions will now be raised as to whether or not they’re still good enough for this level.

Plenty of the home fans were shouting for Graham Alexander to be sacked at full-time. Despite promotion last year, it’s easy to understand why they’re unhappy!