Salford City 1 Rotherham United 1
McAleny (15) Kayode (90)
Rotherham United travelled to Greater Manchester to take on Salford City at the Peninsula Stadium for their second pre-season friendly in two days.
It was a busy opening minutes with neither team bothering the ‘keepers with Ibou Touray having the first chance which Richard Wood and Jake Hull cleared between them. Georgie Kelly won a free-kick which Dan Barlaser took charge of winning a corner. Barlaser took the set-piece with Tom King in the Salford goal pushing over for a second corner which he then put out for a third Millers corner which Barlaser put just over the head of Wood. Wood won the ball back and sent it to Ollie Rathbone who sent it back into the area with the hosts defence clearing. There was a stop in play as the sprinklers came on. A poor challenge by Callum Hendry on Ciaran McGuckin saw a Barlaser free-kick caught by King before Rathbone had to be on his mettle to stop Hendry as he dashed for goal but a minute later Salford took the lead. Hendry pinched the ball in midfield, ran up the pitch, his marker falling over, squaring the ball to Conor McAleny who stuck the ball in the net. From the re-start McGuckin put a lovely cross into the area with King only able to palm behind with the resulting corner cleared. Stevie Mallan made himself a chance out of nothing which the Millers defence finally cleared before some nice football from the Ammies saw Hendry get the better of two defenders before Chieo Ogbene finally got the ball away. A header back to his ‘keeper saw Millers’ ‘keeper Josh Vickers thankful to clasp the ball as a home player came close to intercepting it. A super cross from Barlaser fell to Kelly who tried to place the ball but saw it go just past hitting the foot of the post on its way. Rotherham gave away a needless corner which Mallan took and Wood cleared before Jake Hull found Ogbene with a nice pass who sent the ball to Kelly with King pushing the ball away. A Millers free-kick went into the box ending with Ben Wiles whose shot went wide. A cross from Kelly was easy for King before a mix up in the Millers defence saw Luke Bolton send the ball to Mallan who saw Vickers save. Mallan is the first player to see yellow after a poor challenge on Wiles who needed treatment. Kelly won a corner which Barlaser sent in towards Hull but the move ended with a free-kick to the home side. Wiles found himself on the deck again winning a free-kick which only found a Salford player before eventually falling to McGuckin who won a corner which Kelly got his head to but saw the ball go just over the crossbar. Hull sent in a good ball towards McGuckin but there was a handball against the Millers before Ogbene sent the ball into the box but it was easy for King. In the last minute of the half Wiles got a super ball from Kelly but saw his cross go across the goalmouth with no yellow shirted player there to clip it in.
Changes for the Millers at half-time saw Chieo Ogbene and Richard Wood make way for Joshua Kayode and A Trialist. It was the hosts who started the second half the better with Jake Hull doing well to turn away a shot from Luke Bolton before it reached Callum Hendry who had taken up a good position. The Millers came close to equalising on fifty minutes after Ollie Rathbone had pinched the ball back sending it to Georgie Kelly. Kelly then sent in a high ball looking for Kayode but Salford’s Trialist managed to clear. That was Kelly’s last action of the night with Nesbitt coming on in his place. Josh Vickers did well to get his hands to a cracking strike from the impressive Conor McAleny with the resulting corner being put behind. Young Nesbitt made his mark after just six minutes on the pitch getting a yellow card for a poor challenge on Elliot Watts. The hour mark saw more changes for the visitors with Dan Barlaser, Ben Wiles, Ollie Rathbone and Cameron Humphreys making way for Jamie Lindsay, Hakeen Odoffin, Mackenzie Warne and Hamish Douglas. The hosts brought on Thomas Asante and Matt Smith with Stevie Mallan and Conor McAleny going the other way. Curtis Durose and JJ tried a one-two which didn’t quite come off before a good ball in from JJ looking for Nesbitt was cleared by a Salford Trialist. On sixty-four minutes the visitors won a free-kick which Lindsay finding Odoffin who headed down but straight into Tom King’s hands. At the other end a good catch from Vickers saw him send the Millers upfield but, not for the first time, Salford won the ball back and the move was thwarted. Peter Kioso came off the bench for the Millers with Curtis Durose making way. Salford came so close to getting a second in the final fifteen minutes when Asante shot on the turn only for Vickers to pull of a brilliant save. The Millers Trialist did well to clear a ball in from Liam Shepherd before some good pressing from the Millers forced Salford back though nothing came of it. A McGukin corner fell to Nesbitt whose footballing instinct saw him send the ball towards goal but King was there to save. Salford made more changes fetching on a goalkeeping Trialist for Tom King while the Millers brought on Joel Holvey for Ciaran McGuckin. More home changes saw Eliott Watt make way for Matt Sargent and Callum Hendry off for Marcus Dackers and Josh O’Brien taking over from A Trialist. The Rotherham Trialist did well to get the better of a Salford forward and ushers the ball back to Vickers before a good run from Odoffin saw him win a corner which Lindsay found JJ who headed just over. A poor challenge on Ryan Watson from Nesbitt, who had already been booked, saw him get a stern lecture from the referee before Paul Warne replaced him with Champion. And in the dying seconds of the game it was the last Millers sub who got a lovely ball off Odoffin and getting into the box put the ball up for JJ who scored an equaliser for the visitors.
Well, that wasn’t the best game I’ve ever seen but we have to remember that it was the second one for a lot of the players in two days. I thought Salford won the ball back on many occasions in midfield, perhaps too many from a Millers point of view. And also managed to take the ball off us quite a few times too. But, it is only a pre-season friendly and we have a few days until we take on Mansfield Town on Saturday.
Teams
Salford City
Tom King
Ibou Touray
Elliot Watt
Ryan Watson
Callum Hendry
Stevie Mallan
Conor McAleny
Luke Bolton
A Trialist
Liam Shepherd
Theo Vassell
Subs – Brandon Thomas-Asante, Matt Smith, Kevin Berkoe, Matt Sargent, Josh O’Brien, Marcus Dackers, A Trialist
Rotherham United
Josh Vickers
Cameron Humphreys (Odoffin 62)
Richard Wood (A Trialist 45)
Jake Hull
Ciaran McGuckin (Holvey 78)
Dan Barlaser (Warne 62)
Ollie Rathbone (Lindsay 62)
Ben Wiles (Douglas 62)
Curtis Durose (Kioso 67)
Chieo Ogbene (Kayode 45)
Georgie Kelly (Nesbitt 52) (Champion 88)
Sub not used – Viktor Johansson
