Dinner (Thai!) = £11
Entrance = £4
Tea = £1
Fruit juice = 62p
Total = £16-62
On a sultry July evening after work, I decided to head down to Moor Lane for another friendly, hoping to take advantage of the light evenings at the moment. For once, I came completely unprepared, and had only my work shirt – no jumper or coat in sight! I hoped I wouldn’t regret this, but fortunately the weather was reasonably warm through this one. Salford City had been in the headlines recently when Manchester United’s Class of 92 had taken over the club, so I half-expected to see some famous names there tonight. On the pitch, they’ve established themselves as a solid Evostik Division 1 side, and should do reasonably well this season. In the other corner (black and white to be precise), Chorley had just been promoted into the Conference North, and would shortly be starting their debut season at that level.
The ground was a hidden gem, off Bury Road, about a 45-minute walk from the centre of Manchester. As I entered, there was an earth bank to walk down, and two stands – one short row of terracing on the near side, and a stand of seating on the far side. The seated stand was a classic, with long wooden benches embedded onto a magnificent concrete structure. With its pillars and burgundy and white colours, this had something of a regal feel to it.
This had all the makings of a decent match, certainly more evenly contested than Saturday’s game at Wigan. It started off with a bang, with Chorley’s James Dean giving them the lead almost from the kick-off, as the Salford defence seemed to turn to statues as the away side walked through them. This set up a fiercely contested game brilliantly. Salford immediately threatened an equaliser when their 7 hit a superb first-time shot to force a decent save from the away keeper. They looked fired up by conceding the early goal, and had a hatful of half-chances throughout the first-half, with 5 shooting miles over from a decent position, and 10 volleying wide shortly before half-time. Chorley’s only real chance came with a free-kick from 11 which flew just wide, until they made it 2-0 with a 42nd minute volley from Dale Wigan. Salford had worked really hard in this first-half, but not really got the rub of the green, having been undone by two badly-timed goals.
As I wandered around at half-time, I noticed a crowd around a group of hooded Mancs, with people’s iPhones and cameras at the ready. I wondered what all the fuss was about until I noticed that the guy in the grey hoodie was Paul Scholes, flanked by Phil Neville and Nicky Butt! They had just looked like a normal group of blokes at the football. This was proving to be quite an evening so far!
The second-half was as competitive at the first, with Salford having lost none of their verve. Number 4’s shot on 53 minutes was saved again, while 8 fired a half-chance over. By now the Chorley contingent behind the left-hand goal were in fine voice, creating a great atmosphere at what was a pre-season friendly. Chorley were often in control of the game but didn’t create many chances of significance, apart from a dipping volley from 15 on 69 minutes. To cap Salford’s rather bad luck this evening, they conceded a 75th minute penalty, which was converted by Chorley’s 10. (The foul looked to me like it was committed just outside the area.) 3-0, and a rather unfair scoreline on the home side, who had done well against a side two leagues above them.
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