It was on the 21st April that Salford City last suffered a league defeat at the Peninsula Stadium, where they've averaged 2.5 points per game this season in a tremendous run of form only bettered by two sides across the top five divisions: Luton Town and Salford's near-neighbours Manchester City. Yet they're not the only team in good form and, being one of only two teams to have collected more points than the Ammies since the start of November, the Daggers will arrive in Manchester with quiet confidence.
Becoming the first ever team to defeat Salford City in the National League is a tough ask when you consider the millions of pounds splashed by them to get to this stage. Their meteoric yet despised rise through English football owes less to hard work and desire than it does the expansive wallet of five of Manchester's most decorated footballers, Phil Neville, Gary Neville, Ryan Giggs, Paul Scholes and Nicky Butt, plus Singaporean billionaire Peter Lim, who assumed majority control of the club recently. It's not as simple as money acquainting to direct and instant success though, a lesson many have been taught in the past. Salford are astutely managed and rely on expertise, just as they do cash. They've also shown respect to the quality of the National League by investing heavily in new talent such as Adam Rooney and Rory Gaffney, whose combined goals so far lend themselves perfectly to Salford's ambition of short-cutting their way to the Football League. They're not the first team to introduce new levels of finance to non-league football but it's frustrating for sides such as Gateshead who cannot possibly compete with them at any standard. Their approach to this season was perfectly outlined this week with their signing of Lincoln striker Matt Green, who bolsters an already-brilliant strikeforce and only adds to the talent that they have distributed throughout the dressing room. This includes, also, ex-Peterborough winger Danny Lloyd, powerful centre-back Nathan Pond, the imposing presence of Carl Piergianni and keeper Chris Neal. It's not a game we should approach with a defeatist mentality, though, because no team in this league is unbeatable and Salford won't relish a visit from a side like us. We're bang in form and have overcome a number of talented sides such as Fylde, Harrogate and Ebbsfleet in the FA Trophy, so we're used to playing outfits that are challenging at the better end of the table. For us, this begins a frantic period of four games all in quick succession. After Salford it's Leyton Orient (H), Barnet (H) and Orient (A) - a period that could define our campaign and potentially see us as high as the play-off places (hypothetically, of course) yet as low that we could be looking over our shoulders again. It's crucial to get off to a good start to that spell because it really can set the tone, and it's not completely inconceivable that we lose all four games! Similarly, if we manage to nick it at Salford, we'll feel invincible and surely go from strength to strength in the following days. The reverse fixture resulted in a 0-0 draw, meaning we're one of few sides to get anything from the high-flying Ammies, and one of even fewer to stop them from scoring altogether. That doesn't tell the full story, though, because they spent a lot of that game with ten men after a moment of petulance from Danny Lloyd, who was subsequently sent off and without whom Salford would've probably won. That was when we were devoid of both quality and talent so the fact that we got a draw in any circumstances will be a source of optimism, especially as we know possess assets capable of causing panic. This is without doubt the biggest challenge to our unbeaten run - most people will be heavily backing the hosts' to win quite comfortably. In their last league fixture, however, they gave Chesterfield their first victory since the second weekend of the season and, should they suffer another off-day, we'll be ready to take advantage. It's almost a free hit for us, we should have no fear, there's nothing to lose. We've been somewhat fortunate in recent weeks so hopefully we play better, though nobody will complain with any sort of result even if we play poorly. So bring on the challenge. Whatever happens, we're in a much better position than a couple of months ago, with the players doing us all proud. I'm sure that will continue this weekend. Finally, safe travels to those making the long trip up north - let's cheer the boys to another victory. Up the Dags
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January 2024
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