Salford City 1-0 Stockport County: Matt Smith gives Ammies first-leg win
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Matt Smith (right) was credited with what could be a crucial goal for Salford
Matt Smith's scrappy goal gave Salford City a first-leg win over injury-hit Stockport County in the League Two play-off semi-final.
Smith got the better of Fraser Horsfall in a battle for Elliot Watt's cross.
The visitors struggled without top scorer Kyle Wootton but defended resolutely to give themselves a fighting chance in the second leg.
Stockport keeper Ben Hinchliffe produced an important second-half save to deny Conor McAleny.
Nine years since former Manchester United stars Gary and Phil Neville, Paul Scholes, Ryan Giggs and Nicky Butt bought Salford - then a Northern Premier League outfit - the club are in with an excellent chance of promotion to League One.
Their ex-United team-mates Roy Keane and Ole Gunnar Solskjaer were in attendance at the Peninsula Stadium.
And David Beckham, another of United's 'Class of 92', who took a 10% stake in Salford in 2019, would have been proud of the excellent right-wing cross by Watt to set up the goal.
As Smith grappled with Horsfall and attempted to meet Watt's delivery with a diving header, it was unclear whether the ball went in via the striker's shoulder or off the Stockport defender.
The goal was credited to Smith and came 72 seconds after Stockport missed a glorious chance to take the lead when Ryan Croasdale thumped the rebound against the bar after Connor Evans' shot had been parried by keeper Alex Cairns.
Lack of firepower hampers Hatters
Stockport's limited attacking options meant it was always going to be a testing night for Dave Challinor's side.
Winners of the National League last year, and chasing a second successive promotion, County have enjoyed a fine campaign, had not lost since February, and missed out on automatic promotion on the final day of the regular season.
But with Wootton, who has scored 14 goals this term, having recently been sidelined, experienced forward Paddy Madden also missing the game along with fellow attacker Will Collar was a big blow for the Hatters.
It was unclear whether the ball went in off Smith or Horsfall for the goal
Between them the three players have scored 38 goals this season, so there was every chance the visitors would struggle in attack without them.
That made Croasdale's miss all the more galling for Stockport - especially as they conceded at the other end immediately afterwards.
Had he hit the target rather than the woodwork, the outcome might have been very different.
Salford, on the other hand, had a constant threat up front in the wily Smith.
The former Leeds, Fulham and QPR target man gave Horsfall major problems and put his team within sight of a trip to Wembley, where the winners of the tie will face Carlisle United or Bradford City.
Salford striker Matt Smith told BBC Radio Manchester:
"It's half a job done but it's going to mean nothing if we don't put in a good performance at Stockport next Saturday.
"Overall it's a pleasing evening. I thought in the first half we were outstanding and in the second half rode the storm, so we showed two sides to our game - a very technical, expansive, exciting performance in the first half and that grit, character and nous you need to win any game we showed in abundance in the second half.
"We now need to set our sights at Stockport. It will be a totally different kind of game, a different atmosphere, so we have to prepare properly and see the job through.
"It's half-time. It was a tiring game but we have a week to recover, which is as much recovery time as you would get in a regular season, so we have the opportunity to get to full fitness for next Saturday."
Stockport boss Dave Challinor told BBC Radio Manchester:
"We would love to be level or in front but we're not, so we know exactly what we need to do next Saturday now.
"You come into these games a little bit into the unknown because there are players out there from our perspective who, because we've got experienced players missing, haven't played in a game of this type before.
"I think that showed in the first 10 minutes when we were very much rabbit in the headlights and it took us a little bit of time to get going.
"Then we got an opportunity, hit the bar and two minutes later they go up the other end and score what is the decisive goal.
"But there are plenty of positives. In the second half, when we were able to be a bit more adventurous in terms of our shape and the personnel we had on the pitch, we opened the game up a bit more and we had situations where we have to be better with our quality and belief in what we are doing.
"But lots will benefit from the game and if there were any fears going into the game they should have been allayed by what we did in the second half and hopefully that will be the case from the start next Saturday."