From their various vantage points – Nicky Butt and Paul Scholes were in the directors box, Ryan Giggs was in the technical area in his role as Salford’s Football director and coaching assistant and, presumably, Gary and Phil Neville and David Beckham were following on TV as they were not at the game in person – the League Two club’s famous owners knew what their team needed to do to stop their hosts.
But knowing what to do and actually being able to do it are two very different things.
The brutal reality is the ‘Class of 92’ in their prime were at a level way beyond anything Salford’s squad are capable of.
Had Kylian Kouassi been able to turn Hakeeb Adelakun’s excellent left-wing cross goalwards from a central position on the edge of the six-yard box, Salford would have halved Manchester City’s lead and felt as though they still had hopes of a huge shock.
Instead, Kouassi stubbed the ball away from the net and within seconds O’Reilly was spearing his debut goal into the far corner at the other end of the pitch.
Those few seconds underlined the gulf in class that remains between a side struggling for form in the Premier League and one that has been winning matches for fun three tiers below.
The magnitude of defeat, Salford’s biggest as a league club, was a disappointing outcome for a Salford away following in excess of 5,000.
Granted, only five miles separates Moor Lane from the Etihad Stadium, but Salford were being backed by a bigger following than their ground actually holds, which at least shows there is local support for a club that has struggled to attract significant crowds since their promotion to the Football League in 2019.
Swiss
