Aldershot Town 0, Salford 1

HEAVILY fancied for promotion and even more heavily bank-rolled by several stars of Manchester United’s Class of 92, Salford City have at times this season appeared to be the embodiment of the rampant lion depicted on their crest.

By contrast, Aldershot Town were once again exposed as paper tigers in a game which The Ammies should have won by a greater margin.

Salford dominated the first half yet had to wait until the 44th minute to finally fashion a breakthrough, and then in the final half hour watched Aldershot Town attempt to mount a grandstand finish which ultimately lacked a degree of conviction.

“We’ve left everything on the pitch in every game and we’ve got absolutely nothing to show for it,” bemoaned striker Scott Rendell, in his unofficial role as Gary Waddock’s assistant, at the end of a week in which The Shots lost three games against play-off contenders by a single goal.

“That’s the heartbreaking thing about it because we’ve put in three good performances – more than good enough to win games – and it hurts when we deserve more than zero points.”

Salford had started in dominant mood. Lois Maynard and left-back Ibou Touray went close before the hosts had barely established a foothold in the game. In belated response, Bernard Mensah hit a 30-yard shot over and John Goddard saw his drive blocked by the diving Carl Piergianni, but it took a superb acrobatic goalline clearance from George Elokobi to deny Emmanuel Dieseruvwe.

Liam Hogan chested the ball wide as he slid in three yards out, but the contrast was perhaps best illustrated by the final two chances of the half.

Jacob Berkeley-Agyepong beat a rather stilted offside trap only to hesitate at the wrong moment and allow Chris Neal to make the save – and he paid for his profligacy four minutes later as Touray supplied another teasing low cross which ricocheted into the path of Devonte Redmond to lash the ball past Jake Cole.

Nathan Pond had a glancing header disallowed after the referee adjudged that the corner kick had curled out of play before reaching the six-yard box and, with more than 40 minutes remaining, that proved Salford’s final opportunity of the game.

Neal clutched Mensah’s swerving drive and soon tipped Goddard’s free-kick onto the crossbar, and when the goalkeeper was beaten – by Adam McDonnell’s close-range chip – it was from an offside position.

Substitute Reece Grant headed wide under pressure from a strong Salford defence, and McDonnell’s 20-yard shot was easy for Neal.

The Shots had run out of steam before McDonnell was shown a second yellow card for tripping Scott Wiseman as he broke forward in the final minutes, and Salford were able to seal victory despite restricting two of their most expensive signings, Adam Rooney and Rory Gaffney, to late cameo appearances.

Rendell, though, remained optimistic, despite the 11-point gap between Aldershot Town and safety.

“It’s not quite signed and sealed yet. We’ve got a fair few cup finals coming up, and if we can get that first win we’ve still got a chance,” said Rendell.

Aldershot Town: Cole; Bernard (Gallagher 90), Menayese, Elokobi, Booty, McDonnell, Howell, Mensah, Goddard (Grant 71), Berkeley-Agyepong, Rendell. Subs (not used): McClure, Mannion, Finney.

Attendance: 1,668.