Competition: Unibond First Division North
Venue: Nissan Chorley Victory Park, Chorley, Lancashire
Attendance: 366
Ticket In: £7.00
Holiday time in the UK once again, hence the reason I’m able to work a full time job and watch some football on a Friday at 3pm, a rare thing indeed! It’s back to the heart of Lancashire this afternoon and the match between Chorley and Salford City, a local-ish match between two North West sides. The last time I visited Chorley they pulled out a last gasp winner against Rossendale United after twice being behind, I’m pretty sure their fans would accept a similar outcome this afternoon. Salford City’s current position leaves them in severe danger of being relegated, having occupied the bottom spot in the league for the majority of the season and now finding themselves 4 points adrift. A half decent recovery effort after being a lot further than that behind for most of the season. As it typical of a British Bank Holiday, the trains are delayed and the weather is downright unpleasant, “that fine rain that soaks you through” as the star of the fictional Chorley FM station might call it falls over the stadium as kickoff looms less than half an hour away.
The teams came out of the dressing room and onto the pitch at just before 3pm, Chorley in their home colours of black and white striped shirts and black shorts, Salford City in their changed strip of all sky blue. Referee and captains complete the pre-match necessary and the match gets underway.
The first 5 minutes of the match belonged to Salford City as they applied plenty of pressure onto the Chorley defence, who were struggling to cope. Salford won themselves a corner in the 15th minute when a great run by the winger resulted in the Chorley defender putting the ball behind. The delivery of the corner was met in the penalty area by the head of a Salford forward and it deflected off a Chorley defender for another corner, the Chorley defence was able to deal with the threat however. The Chorley defence was seriously beginning to struggle with the pace and trickery of the Salford winger, and he demonstrated this once again in the 17th minute as he left two Chorley defenders in his wake and played the ball to a more central teammate, whose shot was low along the ground and gathered by the Chorley keeper. The half hour mark saw Salford City still on top in the match and Chorley were now resorting to long and hopeful shots from range that were not troubling the goalkeeper. But one of these eventually paid off in the 33rd minute when after being under pressure for almost the entire half, Chorley took the lead when after some well thought through build up play on the wing, the ball came to the feet of Adam Farrell and he drilled the ball into the bottom left corner of the net from 25 yards to emphatically give Chorley the lead. Salford nearly levelled the match straight afterwards when an attempted Chorley clearance deflected off another defender and almost went into the net for a calamitous own goal. As half time rapidly approached, Chorley were awarded a free kick in a dangerous attacking position just outside the penalty area. 
Goalscorer Adam Farrell stepped up to the challenge in an attempt to double his tally as he curled the ball over the top of the wall and with the goalkeeper stranded it hit the post and deflected to safety, Salford escape. The referee’s halftime whistle followed not long afterwards and a half that Salford had dominated came to an end with them somewhat inexplicably trailing. Chorley will be partly happy and partly very unhappy with that half of football as they produced nothing of major threat to their visitors. An opportunist strike is what separates the teams at the break and Chorley may be left to hang on if the 2nd half continues in a similar manner. At the moment the better side is losing.Half Time:
Chorley 1 – 0 Salford City
Chorley started the 2nd half in blistering form and in the opening seconds of the match came close to doubling their advantage. A long ball over the defence was picked up by a Chorley forward and his sidefooted effort beat the keeper but went an inch the wrong side of the post.
After Salford City had managed to waste a couple of good chances, Chorley won themselves a corner in the 54th minute and the delivery was taken to the back of the penalty area and subsequently crossed back in but over the heads of the waiting attackers and the chance passed by. The Salford keeper then had to be alert as a cross from the wing in the 64th minute was dipping under the crossbar, the keeper watched it all the way and palmed it over to safety and a Chorley corner. Chorley came close again in the 67th minute when a free kick was delivered into the penalty area and was half cleared by the Salford defence, before it fell to the feet of a Chorley striker some 25 yards out from goal and he rifled a shot just wide of the goal with the keeper beaten. Goals against the run of play seemed to be the theme of this match as Salford levelled the match in the 70th minute after facing a lot of pressure. An attempted clearance deflected off a Salford player and he embarked on a run into the penalty area. His square pass into the penalty area was cleverly left by one attacker and Steve Foster drilled the ball into the net to bring Salford level. But parity lasted all of seven minutes as the 77th minute saw a run into the penalty area by a Chorley forward cut short by the Salford City keeper and the referee was left with little option but to award a penalty kick. Michael Eckersley was the player tasked with scoring the penalty and he obliged his duty as he slotted the ball into the bottom right corner of the net to restore Chorley’s lead. 
Last ditch Salford defending in the 86th minute prevented the game being wrapped up as a through ball split the Salford defence and a forward latched onto it. His shot was saved but palmed back into the penalty area where another shot was hit on goal and blocked on the line by a Salford defender before the rebound was put over the crossbar as Chorley couldn’t make the killer blow and kill the game off. And they were made to pay for this in the 2nd minute of added time when a ball down the wing was latched onto by Salford’s Steven Moore and his shot from the angle beat the keeper and sailed into the net to break the home fans hearts and bring Salford level in the dying moments. The game was to have an explosive end as two Salford teammates had a disagreement on the pitch and a head butt and karate kick to the face was the end result. The referee left with no alternative to issue a red card and Salford would end the match with 10 men in highly unnecessary fashion. “Typical Salford” comments one Chorley supporter. But that was the way the game was to end and the point were shared.This match closely resembled a game of two halves. How Salford managed to enter the halftime break trailing I’ll never know, the dominated the half but couldn’t find the net whereas Chorley were presented with one half chance and they took it.
The 2nd half was a far more even affair although Chorley made the far stronger start and could have had the game buried in the opening quarter. But it was to be a late sting in the tail from Salford, leaving Chorley to surely look upon this game as two points dropped. An explosive end to a good game of football, 2-2 the final score.Full Time:
Chorley 2 – 2 Salford City
Veiw more pics at:
http://s375.photobucket.com/albums/oo198/YellowCardPhotos/Chorley%20Vs%20Salford%20City/
