Harrogate Town 0 Salford City 2: Sulphurites' wretched run against the Ammies continues

Simon Power is closed down by Ibou Touray during Harrogate Town's defeat to Salford City. Picture: Matt Kirkham

The Ammies arrived in North Yorkshire having managed to win just four of their opening 16 League Two fixtures this term, but are now unbeaten in eight meetings with Saturday's hosts.

And Simon Weaver's team can have no complaints regarding what is a sixth defeat in that eight-match sequence, failing to assert themselves sufficiently at either end of the field.

They began brightly enough and should really have taken the lead as early as the sixth minute.

Simon Power's cross from the left was met by Nathan Sheron and nodded back across goal for Warren Burrell, though the experienced centre-half's close-range header cleared the cross-bar despite him having time to pick his spot.

Jack Diamond then sent a tame effort straight down the throat of Connor Ripley before Alex Pattison's near-post flick from Power's left-wing corner was blocked inside the six-yard box.

But, following a decent 20-minute spell, the hosts stopped passing the ball, opting to go long far too often as Salford grew into the contest.

It became all too easy for the visiting side to engineer some decent attacking positions, with Ibou Touray afforded far too much space down the left flank on a number of occasions,

And it was from that area of the pitch that the deadlock was broken in the 37th minute as City's left-back was left with time to pick the exact blade of grass inside the home box that he wanted to land the ball on.

With Mark Oxley nowhere to be seen, Touray's cross found Matty Lund waiting at the back stick to apply the simplest of finishes from barely a yard out.

And things almost got worse before the interval, Harrogate's goalkeeper redeeming himself to an extent with a decent save to thwart Tyreik Wright.

The second period began with Town again struggling for any real fluency, and, just as he did in the first half, Sheron was required to make an important last-ditch block inside his own box as City threatened to add a second.

Weaver's men looked as if they might be able to make something happen when they managed to get the ball into the feet of Diamond down their left, and it was their on-loan Sunderland winger who almost levelled matters on 57 minutes.

Pattison led a swift counter-attack down the middle of the pitch before slipping the ball to Diamond, who cut inside and fired beyond Ripley, only for the covering Touray to affect a crucial block.

But, that was to be as good as it got for Harrogate, who were punished for their passive approach out of possession when Salford made it 2-0 in the 75th minute.

Jason Lowe picked up the ball on the left-hand edge of the home area and was given time and space to unleash a low strike which deflected off Ryan Fallowfield and beat Oxley at his near post to wrap things up.

Defeat sees the Sulphurites drop down two place to seventh in the League Two standings.