Spennymoor Town 0 Salford City 0

Gary Neville is among Manchester United’s Class of ’92 who are backing Salford City and Spennymoor Town could have done with the Sky Sports analyst and his array of television replays when they had a last-minute winner controversially ruled out.

Both teams were ready to restart following Joe Tait’s late strike when referee Mick McDonough ruled out what appeared to be a legitimate injury-time winner.

The defender got the final touch on substitute Richard Archer’s 20-yard effort, Spennymoor celebrated and then both sides traipsed back to halfway. Then McDonough walked over to a linesman and after a brief discussion awarded Salford a free-kick.

As the linesman had not flagged for offside, it took a while for the puzzled supporters to digest what the Tyneside whistleblower had decided and it made for an odd moment at the end of a competitive game.

Moors manager Jason Ainsley described the incident as surreal, though he was determined it would not take the shine off his team’s day against the promotion favourites.

“All the players, the management of both teams and the fans thought it was a goal, it was a surreal moment,” said Ainsley. “All the players had gone back to the centre circle, it was 1-0 as far as everyone was concerned.

“It was a bizarre decision out of nothing. There were no appeals, the linesman had given a goal. The referee said Joe was offside and interfering with play.

“I can’t believe for the life of me how he hasn’t given that goal.

“So I’ve got mixed emotions because that was the best performance of the season. We were the better side by far.”

There’s been lots of talk of the money being spent at Salford, the club backed by Neville and friends.

The spine of their team – defender Paul Linwood, midfielder Jason Jarrett and forwards Gareth Seddon and Danny Webber – have played regularly at Conference level or above, but aside from the first five minutes their performance was underwhelming and Spennymoor more than matched them for long periods.

Salford keeper Jay Lynch leapt to his left to keep out striker Liam Henderson’s side-footed shot from 18 yards, Andrew Stephenson had a close-range shot blocked and Anthony Peacock should have done better when presented with an open goal.

Lynch had miscued his clearance after racing out of the penalty area, but the diminutive midfielder’s effort from 30 yards was high and wide.

“Salford started well, we were a little bit apprehensive, but after that we got on top of them and were in total control,” said Ainsley. “We had chances to score but didn’t take them.

“In the second half we gave the ball away too much. Switching to two up front made a difference, but we deserved the three points and their gaffer said the same.

“Stephenson had a great chance in the second half to score, but you don’t always get what you deserve.

“I’m delighted with the performance, just disappointed with the result. Individually and collectively we were superb.”

The second half was more evenly-balanced the keepers having few saves to make.

Substitute Mikey Roberts, on for John McReady who suffered a dislocated shoulder, found space down the left and pulled the ball back for Liam Henderson who was wide with his 12-yard shot.

At the other end, Seddon hit the woodwork with a powerful header after meeting Jarrett’s free-kick.

The blank scoreline means Ainsley’s side is still yet to score at home, though having become the first team to take points off the league leaders he was proud of his players.

He said: “It’s not as though we’re not creating chances. It’s unheard of here, but the pleasing thing is we look strong defensively.

“We know we can perform on the big occasion, but we haven’t always done that.

“I looked around the dressing room before the game and said that if you can all give eight out of ten performances it’ll be very difficult for them to beat you. They did that, I’m just disappointed they didn’t get their just rewards.”

Bookings: C Lynch (28, foul), Archer (90, foul)

Referee: Mike McDonough (Newcastle) 6

Attendance: 724

Entertainment: **

Spennymoor Town (4-5-1): McHugh 6; Griffiths 7, Tait 8, P JOHNSON 8, Groves 7; McReady 6 (Roberts 65, 6), Dodds 6, Graydon 7 (Archer 75), Stephenson 7 (McAndrew 90), Peacock 7, Henderson 6. Subs (not used): Cogdon, A Johnson, Archer

Salford City (4-4-2): J Lynch 6; Edgehill 6, C Lynch 7, LINWOOD 7, Moss 6; Rother 7, Dunn 6, Jarrett 7 (Platt 70), Madeley 7; Webber 5, Seddon 6. Subs (not used): Walters, Messer, Kirby, Brown

Man of the match

PAUL Johnson – Very solid at the back alongside Joe Tait