Salford City 2-2 Mansfield Town: Draw ends Ammies' play-off hopes

Jordan Turnbull's handball resulted in the penalty from which Mansfield took a 2-1 lead

Salford City manager Gary Bowyer insisted they are moving in the right direction, despite seeing their hopes of reaching the play-offs ended by a draw with promotion-chasing Mansfield Town.

The Ammies made a dream start by scoring inside 90 seconds when Jordan Turnbull met an enticing Ibou Touray delivery with an emphatic header.

Nigel Clough's men responded positively and were soon rewarded when a curling Stephen McLaughlin free-kick nestled in the corner.

Buoyed by a 1,286-strong travelling support, the Stags looked to complete a quick turnaround, with Rhys Oates threatening.

And their persistence paid off when Turnbull handled in the area and McLaughlin notched his second of the afternoon from the penalty spot.

Despite the setback, the hosts returned from the interval in the ascendancy and found an equaliser through Matty Lund's precise header.

Lund then struck the woodwork from close range, yet neither side could find a winner as Salford were resigned to another campaign in League Two, while Mansfield missed a chance to climb into the top three with one game to go.

"[It's] disappointing 100%, and the lads are absolutely gutted because they gave everything like they have done again today. They're a great set of lads to work with and we've got to come back stronger now," Bowyer told BBC Radio Manchester.

"You look at the way that they are on the pitch and they're going in the right way."

This is Salford's third season since joining the English Football League for the first time in 2019.

"The start of the season we played really well. We didn't quite pick up the points that I felt the performances deserved and then we had a real bad spate of injuries - I think we had 13 missing at one point and we can't call the games off," said Bowyer.

"Then Covid comes and you can call the game off with a couple of cases, the timing of that, you need a bit of luck on that. We've just got to come back better now."

Tenth-placed Salford face Stevenage away on the final day of the season, while Mansfield host already promoted Forest Green Rovers looking to secure the one point they need to guarantee them a play-off place.

While Nigel Clough's team are only a point behind third-placed Northampton Town, the draw with Salford means the chance of automatic promotion is still possible but now out of their hands as they need the Cobblers and Bristol Rovers to drop points.

"It would have been nice to have a chance at automatic, but obviously with Bristol Rovers' fixture at home to Scunthorpe that is highly, highly unlikely now. But anything happens on the final day. You never know," Clough told BBC Radio Nottingham.

"Players are disappointed in there because they know realistically we haven't got a chance of automatic now. That's finished, that's gone, we've got three or four days to get over it, clear your heads and get ready for Saturday."

Report supplied by PA Media.