'Last gasp' header earns Lairds a share of the spoils (From Wirral Globe)

'Last gasp' header earns Lairds a share of the spoils

1:30pm Monday 11th February 2013 in Sport

CAMMELL Laird travelled to Salford on Saturday looking to get their play-off push back on track - but a last gasp header from the home side saw them heading home the with just one point, writes Phill Wilkinson.

After a early exchange of chances, Laird broke the deadlock 20 minutes when Joe Holt carried the ball 30 yards into the Salford half with support available from Jamie Henders.

Holt set up Henders to deliver a deep cross just inside the penalty area, where Craig Cairns - making his first start since the step up from the reserves - calmly volleyed home with a controlled side-foot strike.

Laird had to wait just three minutes for their lead to be doubled, and this time it was a route one goal.

Laird's goalkeeper Kevin Atherton launched the ball upfield and Henders rose high to nod it into the path of Cairns, who again applied a controlled volley into the bottom corner of the net.

The second-half saw a spirited fight back from Salford City and after just seven minutes they were back in the game.

A simple long ball out of by Salford defender Jack Lane was missed by Laird, then some good work by the Salford strikers gave the home team a goal, despite the diving efforts of defender Chay Dysart.

For the remainder of the half, both sides were restricted to shots from distance.

However as time elapsed, it was Salford who looked more likely to score, and deep into extra time, Cammell Laird were punished for some poor defending.

In the third minute of stoppage time, Laird were camped in their own half and failed to clear their lines having had numerous occasions to get themselves higher up the pitch.

They allowed a two-on-one situation to develop on the right hand side; Salford had all the time in the world and a cross delivered into the penalty area saw their midfielder Danny White make a great run through the defence to glance his header in to the far corner of the goal to take a share of the spoils.