Further frustration on the road for Crusaders

A valiant display by 10man Hungerford Town was not enough as a contentious refereeing decision became the main talking point of what was an entertaining encounter at the Ray Mac stadium.

Salisbury had the game’s first chance through Noah Coppin and his shot was cleared off the line by Curtis Angell.

The Crusaders had a clear game plan to press the Salisbury backline when the hosts played out from the back and on seven minutes the tactic was rewarded. Joe Shepherd won the ball on the edge of the box and despite a good save initially from the goalkeeper, Conor McDonagh slotted home the opening goal.

The hosts reacted carving out a good chance to quickly equalise, but Ryan Clarke denied Charlie Gunson one on one.

In an end-to-end match, Hungerford could have gone two-nil up if it were not for the quick reactions of Josh Gould to tip over a Dave Tarpey header from Nathan Davis’ cross to the back post.

Instead, minutes later the scores were level as the hosts played some intricate football to open up the Crusaders defence and Aaron McCreadie laid it on a plate for Josh Hedges to pass the ball into the net.

Then controversy arose as Matt Berry-Hargreaves was adjudged to have fouled ex-Crusader James Harding in the penalty area and the referee pointed to the spot. The referee also decided to send off Berry-Hargreaves despite the awarding of the penalty and the fact that Berry-Hargreaves was not denying a goal scoring opportunity, as right back Rhys Tyler was in close attendance.

Salisbury took the opportunity given to them, scoring the penalty through Sido Jombati, and the hosts went on to dominate possession.
Clarke had to be alert to make a good save with his legs to stop Gunson’s effort before Joe Shepherd curled a shot narrowly wide at the other end.

The second half was short of clear-cut chances, the hosts could have put the game to bed as a couple of dangerous looking balls across the face of goal were not seized upon and Clarke had to make a fine save to push wide Aaron Simpson’s long-range strike.

Hungerford were still making it a competitive match despite being down to 10 and Shepherd again had an attempt go just wide of a post.

The visitors were even putting the pressure on in the late exchanges of the match with Gould denying Sean Moore, and McDonagh shot over a chance. The goalkeeper also had to parry away a cross to stop it reaching an unmarked McDonagh, and Angell miscued a shot which ended up going well wide of the target.

Salisbury held on for the three points leaving Hungerford still searching for their first point on the road this season.