Salford City 1 Doncaster Rovers 1: Draw more handy to others - Bradford City included - as visitors fail to go second in League 2 game in hand

Try a portion of West Yorkshire and across the middle of the country in pockets of the West Midlands, Staffordshire, Nottinghamshire, Derbyshire and Lincolnshire.

A couple of far-flung places down south also had a vested interest.

By the end, there was probably more satisfaction away from Doncaster or Salford.

On a night when three points would have seen Rovers move into second above Bradford City and Walsall, they managed just one in their game in hand and remain fourth in this congested promotion bottleneck.

Salford were also cursing with the win they needed to maintain their play-off interest evading them as the pair played out their second 1-1 draw of the season.

Rovers made the breakthrough courtesy of Rob Street’s ninth of the season on 21 minutes.

To their credit, Salford soon levelled through a Luke Garbutt free-kick and there were no further goals in a game which saw ex-Rotherham defender Curtis Tilt dismissed for a second yellow late on.

Befitting of such a high-stakes game with plenty of attention on it in the promotion race, it proved a spicy occasion at times - three home players were cautioned in the first-half - and it ended level at the break.

Rovers started the better and drew first-blood through Street, but Salford’s response was good and they soon equalised courtesy of Garbutt’s free-kick.

Both goals took slight deflections, while the mood of Salford chief Karl Robinson was not particularly enamoured on two counts.

He was booked for his protests soon after Street struck, with Robinson adamant the Rovers forward was offside after reacting quickest to Owen Bailey’s free-kick, with his angled strike deflecting off Tilt before nestling in the net.

Home tempers were starting to get raised, but within six minutes, they were feeling better about themselves.

The dangerous Kelly N’Mai, who became an irritant as the half progressed for the visitors, was tripped by Tom Anderson and Garbutt’s fierce free-kick took a slight touch off Patrick Kelly and went through the left-hand side of Rovers’ wall and flew past Sharman-Lowe.

Garbutt had earlier clumped Molyneux with a pretty crude challenge for the free-kick which led to Rovers’ opener. He saw yellow and not red.

Rovers, who had gone close early when Molyneux's shot has just deflected over, while Street soon saw a close-range effort ruled out for a foul, were on the back foot for a spell after Ammies’ leveller and the half ended in controversy when the hosts netted from a corner, converted by Ossama Ashley, but the effort was chalked off for a foul on Sharman-Lowe. Again, Robinson was not amused.

Grant McCann spoke of being bold ahead of the game and his team selection was certainly striking, even accounting for a couple of notable absentees in Jay McGrath and Joe Ironside alongside the suspended Billy Sharp, who had netted in both league and cup games against Salford previously in 2024-25.

Ironside would have been particularly useful on this sort of night.

McCann fielded a 3-4-3 formation, with Kelly and James Maxwell recalled against an Ammies side featuring former Rovers loanee Hakeeb Adelakun - part of the club’s play-off journey last spring and someone the Doncaster chief knew about from his time at Hull - and including another ex-player in Jon Taylor on the bench.

Adelakun got a few early jeers from the big Doncaster following and an away goal had Rovers fans in good spirits, but Salford’s hearty response gave them food for thought.

While Adelakun was quiet, N’Mai, Haji Mnoga and Tyrese Fornah caught the eye for the hosts.

Salford suffered a blow early on the restart when N’Mai made way with injury.

Attacking the end where their 1,126 away contingent were housed, Rovers were assigned with making something happen in a game which was starting to look delicately poised again.

Someone needed to make a move and Salford were the ones who looked capable of upping it.

Adelakun almost silenced those who barracked him from the away section with his low strike cannoning off the post while Ben Woodburn fired at Sharman-Lowe after a neat exchange with Cole Stockton.

The quiet Molyneux then found a bit of space, but his angled effort was straight at Matty Young before Gibson fired over following good work from Sterry.

Rovers stepped it up in the last quarter. Broadbent’s shot yielded a key reaction save from Young before Molyneux fired just off target as gaps started to appear as Rovers followers tried to suck in a winner.

Play swung back to the other end. But no winner. A draw was fair.

Salford City: Young; Shepherd (Edwards 34), Tilt, Garbutt; Mnonga, Ashley, Fornah, Adelakun; Woodburn (Austerfield 95); Stockton, N’Mai (Lund 50) . Substitutes unused: Jones, Taylor, Longelo, Warrington.

Doncaster Rovers: Sharman-Lowe; Bailey, Anderson, Senior; Sterry, Kelly (Crew 81), Broadbent, Maxwell (Nixon 81); Molyneux, Gibson (Ennis 81): Street. Substitutes unused: Lawlor, Sbarra, Clifton, Flint.

Referee: E Bell (Merseyside).

Attendance: 3,030 (1,126 Doncaster fans).