Prescot Cables 1 Salford City 1

SALFORD City came to Valerie Park as league leaders, a place recently occupied by Prescot, but the first half was anything but top-of-the-table fare as both sides struggled to master the slippery surface.

The opening 15 minutes brought just two off-target goal attempts, one for each side, before Salford won a corner which Dahl punched away with the ball falling to Margison, who drove narrowly wide with a first-time effort from 25 yards. In a similar incident at the other end, Taylor picked up a punched ball but dragged his shot wide.

Hughes was in commanding form at the heart of the Prescot defence, snuffing out any potential danger from the Salford attack. At the other end, the Prescot attack was similarly blunted and it was not until just before the interval that either keeper had a save to make when Dahl was called upon to parry an effort from Kimmins.

The game exploded into life a minute after the restart when a long clearance from Hughes was superbly brought down by O'Callaghan, who hit a stunning shot from just outside the box into the top righthand corner of the net.

Salford responded by upping the pace of the game only to be thwarted by the efforts of Hughes and Riley. But Prescot finally surrendered their lead on 67 minutes when Carroll was allowed to rise unchallenged at a corner and head home.

Cables responded with Hayes striking a 22-yard free kick just over the bar, Taylor shooting wide from the edge of the box and O'Neil cutting in from the right before firing just over the bar.

Salford though finished the stronger and suspect marking from a corner allowed Brown a free header which struck the post before McDonald shot straight into the arms of Dahl from six yards out.

And Dahl rounded off a solid display with a magnificent save, touching over a swerving 22-yard free kick from Vaughan just before the final whistle.