LATE goals from substitutes Louis Almond and Aidan Connolly could not save York City from a 3-2 defeat at Salford.

The Minstermen had earlier conceded three goals from sloppily-defended set-pieces with home skipper Liam Hogan capitalising twice, either side of a Jack Redshaw effort.

At the start of a blustery afternoon, Bailey Peacock-Farrell had made the game’s first save on ten minutes, keeping out a Richie Allen drive with his legs at the near post, after the former Fleetwood winger had been found through the left channel by Ibou Touray.

At the other end, a David Ferguson chip from the left bounced back into play off the far post of beaten home keeper Max Crocombe and City debutant James Gray shot narrowly over from 15 yards.

But it was the hosts that forged ahead on 22 minutes after Hamza Bencherif had given away a free kick, following his challenge on Mark Shelton close to the touchline.

After Touray swung the ball in from the right, Jon Parkin then only succeeded in heading his clearance down for Hogan, who swept a low shot past Peacock-Farrell from five yards.

The Minstermen fell further behind following another dead-ball delivery five minutes later.

This time, an Anthony Dudley corner from the left was only cleared as far as Redshaw who, 20 yards from goal, had the space to curl in a shot that beat Peacock-Farrell in the centre of his goal.

In response, Amari Morgan-Smith had a ten-yard effort deflected away from goal by Touray and Parkin cleared the stand with a wayward free kick.

A sliding Dan Parslow could also only find the sidenetting at the far post after Crocombe had completely missed Josh Law’s inswinging free kick from the left and vacated his goal.

On the stroke of half-time, Crocombe went on to tip over Gray’s 12-yard header from a Sean Newton corner.

It was the hosts, though, that were brightest after the restart as Redshaw was left alone on the edge of the box again from a cleared Touray corner, before crossing to the far post, where Peacock-Farrell made a good save from Allen.

But the on-loan Leeds keeper was at fault as Salford made it 3-0 on 50 minutes.

Leaving Touray’s inswinging corner from the right, seemingly in the belief that it was sailing out of play, Peacock-Farrell allowed Hogan to prod the ball in at the far post.

For the Minstermen, Gray shot straight at Crocombe from the edge of the box after good play by Newton but Ammies forward Mike Phenix threatened twice in as many minutes, firing across the face of goal after bundling his way past Alex Whittle and forcing a low save from 20 yards.

Crocombe, meanwhile, gathered a stinging Simon Heslop 25-yard drive at the second attempt before Redshaw squandered an excellent opportunity to make it 4-0, shooting over after being picked out in the box by sub Jake Beesley.

After Mani Dieseruvwe called Peacock-Farrell into action from 20 yards, City then produced a belated rally.

First, Connolly hit the outside of a post after Parkin could not force in at the far post following a Newton flag kick but, within seconds, fellow replacement Almond drilled a low shot into Crocombe’s bottom-right corner on 84 minutes.

Moments later, Law thundered a 12-yard attempt against the bar following Parkin’s lay off, while Bencherif could not force a header home from another Newton corner.

Connolly went on to give City supporters some hope when he rifled a superb 25-yard strike into the roof of the net, but it was case of too little, too late.