Abraham Odoh ends Harrogate’s wait for a win over Salford

Posted Sunday, September 24, 2023 by PA

Harrogate attacker Abraham Odoh ended a 20-game goal drought to settle a 3-2 thriller against Salford in Sky Bet League Two.

Odoh netted for the first time since March to also earn Harrogate a first-ever league win over the Ammies, at the 13th attempt.

Earlier, George Thomson and Sam Folarin had given the hosts a 2-0 lead, only for Curtis Tilt and Matt Smith to level things up.

After thumping a long-range effort against an upright early on, Thomson opened the scoring from the penalty spot just past the quarter-hour mark.

Matty Daly tumbled over Ethan Ingram’s dangling leg and Thomson blasted down the middle of the goal as Salford goalkeeper Alex Cairns dived to his right.

That lead was doubled at the first half’s midway point when Daly found Folarin and the former Middlesbrough striker’s 10-yard shot trickled over the line after Cairns had got a hand on the ball.

The visitors rallied with Conor McAleny’s deflected long-range strike clipping the crossbar and reduced the deficit when centre-back Tilt found the bottom corner with an overhead kick eight yards out in the 29th minute.

Action continued to swing from end to end after the break with Smith clearing an Anthony O’Connor header off the line before prodding in a 58th-minute equaliser following McAleny’s right-wing cross.

A deflected Kayne Ramsay cross struck the outside of a post before the Harrogate right-back charged upfield and found Daly who, in turn, threaded the ball through the left channel for Odoh to confidently curl inside the far post from 12 yards.

The goal extended struggling Salford’s longest-ever run of successive defeats as an EFL outfit to a fifth contest.