SALFORD CITY...4

RAMSBOTTOM UNITED...3

NWCFL First Division

POOR defending cost the Rams this seven goal thriller, as it was a game they could and should have won.

The Rams welcomed back Lee Buggie and Gareth Gardiner to the starting line-up, with leading scorer Matt Swailes relegated to the bench, and Iain Dyson missing through injury.

Facing them was former team-mate, Mark Molyneaux, currently Salford's player-manager.

Both sides began nervously, especially in defence and it was no surprise when the first goal arrived after just seven minutes.

A goalmouth scramble inside the Rams' penalty box eventually fell kindly for George Craddock, who broke the deadlock by flicking the ball beyond Paul Eatock.

Within a minute the same player was given a glorious opportunity to double the home side's lead when put through by strike partner Pat Shaughnessy.

But his effort was thwarted by a combination of Eatock and Matt Raywood.

On 15 minutes the Rams could feel a little aggrieved not to be on terms when a deep Chris Clark corner was whipped back across the face of goal by Gareth Gardiner as far as Buggie, but his rising shot crashed against a post.

City continued to press forward, giving Rams' central defensive pairing of Jordan Rispen and Ged Walsh plenty to think about,

City's second goal arrived on 26 minutes, when an innocuous through-ball was pounced on by Stuart Tulloch, who fired his shot into the bottom corner.

Micky Saunders then reduced the arrears when he controlled a Goodall pass and was given space inside the six yard box to turn and fire low past Molyneaux to make it 2-1.

Molyneaux then denied Saunders a second minutes before half-time, when he got his body behind the youngsters' shot.

The Rams were determined to get back on equal terms at the start of the second half and the equaliser arrived on the hour mark, when Saunders made it a brace when he diverted a Gardiner cross into the roof of the City net.

Within five minutes the Rams were in the lead.

Mark Stewart met Clark's free kick and his powerful header beat Molyneaux, the big defender netting his second goal in three games.

But hopes of only a third away win of the season were dashed, when a crazy four minute spell saw the Rams go from 3-2 up to 4-3 down.

On 68 minutes a cross fell kindly for Craddock whose low shot beat Eatock.

He then completed his hat-trick when Rispen and Walsh failed to close him down, and he had the simplest of jobs, slotting the ball into the corner of Eatock's goal.

The Rams predictably threw everything at the City defence in the hope of rescuing at least a point.

But apart from a low Gardiner shot that struck a post, they failed to create any real chances.

Even the introduction of Matty Swailes, and debutante Michael West from Burnley couldn't do the job.

RAMSBOTTOM: Eatock, Raywood, Stewart, Rispen, Walsh, Boden, G.Gardiner, Clark, Saunders, Buggie, Goodall. Subs: Swailes (for Boden), D.Gardiner, Michael West (for Stewart).

The Rams now face four home games in six days. The sequence began last night when Fleetwood Town were due to visit the Riverside. They will be followed by Curzon Ashton tomorrow; Bacup Boro on Easter Monday, and Alsager on Wednesday 14.