Salford City 2 St Helens Town 3

St Helens Town 3 Salford City 2 AS a result of the bank holiday weekend fixtures Town go into this Saturday's AXA FA Cup first qualifying round tie against Pickering Town at Hoghton Road as joint leaders of the First North Western Trains League.

Two games in three days against the same opposition is not the ideal situation but Town emerged with maximum points at Salford's expense.

But it has to be said that the visitors were short-changed at Hoghton Road on Monday but Town were full value for their away success on Saturday.

Indeed, Saturday's encounter could have seen Town hit a landslide but wayward finishing and an inspired display by Almond in the Salford goal kept it nailbitingly close.

Steve O'Neill put Town ahead in the 32nd minute with a superb 20-yard curler but within a minute Salford were level when Heyes converted a simple header as Town complained that McIntosh had fouled Jones before providing the telling cross.

More good work by keeper Almond and some erratic St Helens finishing enabled Salford to take an interval lead against the run of play when a set piece caught Town napping and Bosmith netted with a powerful header. Town were very shaky on the resumption and had the woodwork to thank as Vaughan and Heyes cursed their luck but the introduction of Pennington changed things and his 70th minute lob got Town level, and fully motivated once again. Chance after chance came and went until Steve Cunningham at last sealed the points when rolling home from the area's edge after an initial block by keeper Almond way out.

Monday's return fixture saw Town out of sorts but with enough scoring capacity to take the points. Saturday's patterns seemed to be present again when Bickerstaffe drove wide from a great chance after only 40 seconds.

Nonetheless Town were two up by the break courtesy of a Bryan Griffiths brace. His first in the 28th minute converted a sweet length of the field move following a corner clearance and his second on 40 minutes was a thunderbolt from almost 30 yards which dipped and swerved past Almond's dive. Despite the scoreline, Town had never been convincing and a languid second half display saw Salford back on terms by the 62nd minute when firstly McIntosh's left wing cross cum shot found the top corner. Two minutes later it was all square when Town keeper Hollywood raced out wide on the left only to be beaten by Christie's angled cut back which rolled into the net with Heyes making sure despite Jones attention.

From this point it could have gone very wrong for Town but they raised a gear and forced several corners with O'Neills header being denied by a miraculous goal line clearance by Brown. Town did however go on to win the day through Gary Laird's first goal of the season five minute from time with O'Neill the provider but they rode a tightrope in this one and nearly fell off.

Saturday's AXA FA Cup tie against Pickering Town kicks off at Hoghton Road at 3pm with the usual admission prices of £3 and £1.50 concessions.

Any replay will be on Tuesday September 7 at Pickering, kick off 7.45pm. Supporters should ring the club info line on 817225 re-travel arrangements.

Numbers drawn in the club's lottery were 1, 5, 8, 11, 12 and 13. There were no winners and a new draw for £925 takes place this weekend on numbers 1-12.

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