Salford City 1 Harrogate Town 1: Sulphurites restore a bit of pride with 'outstanding' display

Having served up another poor home performance on their way to a 3-1 loss to Stockport County at the weekend, the Sulphurites showed far more application and plenty of steel as they played out a 1-1 draw at Moor Lane.

And struggling Town weren’t far off leaving the promotion-chasing Ammies with all three points, Matty Lund striking late on to cancel out Jack Muldoon’s 50th-minute opener.

“Overall, it was a fantastic performance and it is a fair result,” Weaver reflected. “They came at us and we had to withstand a fair bit of pressure, but for large parts we stood up to the task really well and, to a man, everybody was outstanding.

"It restores that pride after the disappointment of Saturday and shows that we can bounce back. We were all feeling a bit bruised from Saturday, but it’s about how well people hold their nerve, recover from disappointment and pick themselves up – and I thought as a whole football club we did that tonight

"We knew that it was going to be a tough challenge. Salford, we all know how they’ve done it, we done it with a different approach, and on a pitch like this which is the worst in the Football League, we have carried out a game-plan and got a very valuable point.

"It’s a big point away at Salford, that’s four points from the last two away games. Everyone played their role and it was great to see the supporters get right behind the team.”

Weaver handed goalkeeper Mark Oxley just his second league start of the season as regular number one Pete Jameson dropped to the substitutes’ bench and the former Hibernian stopper was forced into an early save by Salford’s Callum Hendry.

Hendry then saw an effort come back off the cross-bar before Kazeem Olaigbe led a Town counter-attack which ended with Alex Pattison firing narrowly wide at the other end.

The contest remained goalless at the interval, though Harrogate took the lead four minutes into the second period when Josh Falkingham helped the ball over the top and Jack Muldoon ran though to beat the advancing Alex Cairns with a deft near-post finish.

The Ammies put their visitors under a fair amount of pressure as they pushed for an equaliser, but it took until the 81st minute for them to fashion a clear opportunity.

Ethan Galbraith curled over a cross from the left and Theo Vassell met it at the back post, helping the ball into the path of Lund, who beat Oxley with an emphatic first-time finish.

And City almost snatched victory in stoppage-time, Ryan Watson’s looping header coming back off the bar before Matt Smith’s follow up was kept out by a crucial last-ditch intervention from Matty Foulds.

Town remain 20th in the League Two standings following Tuesday’s result, though Gillingham’s victory over Grimsby means that Weaver and his men now sit just two points clear of the relegation zone.