Karl Robinson hails ‘wonderful’ Salford display to see off Barnet

Karl Robinson was full of praise for his injury-hit Salford as they eased to a 2-0 win at home to Barnet.

Rosaire Longelo and Matt Butcher scored goals late in the first half as City made light of their lengthy injury list with a fine victory.

It ended a run of three straight home defeats for Salford as they look to get their promotion push back on track in League Two.

“It was wonderful,” said Robinson.

“That second goal was incredible, one of my favourite goals of the season.

“There was some calculated passing and forward runs, I really enjoyed it. I actually over-celebrated that, embarrassingly, but it was brilliant to see.

“We had a change of shape today, we were under pressure at certain stages, but I just thought as a unit today we were magnificent.

“We probably missed three or four good chances, so it could have been a bigger scoreline. We were under no illusions about how difficult it was going to be but my players were magnificent.

“I thought every aspect of our football today was good to watch. We’ve had so many difficult moments, and we’re still soldiering on.

“We have 11 out injured but I’m incredibly lucky to be associated with this squad, we care for each other and long may that continue with some big, big games to come.

“I’ve got the biggest smile that I’ve had for a long time, now we want to make sure we put our foot to the floor and never think any job’s done with the automatic places in sight.”

Bees boss Dean Brennan admitted his team had not been good enough to compete, with Salford goalkeeper Matty Young barely having to break a sweat.

“It’s a disappointing result first and foremost but a disappointing performance,” he said.

“There was not enough output at the top end of the pitch, the passing was poor and we gave away two really sloppy goals.

“We just had a lack of quality, it’s as simple as that.

“It’s been like that for us all season. We haven’t done enough to be a play-off team. We have to do more at the top end of the pitch. And you know, I don’t think we hit the target at all today.

“Consistency is definitely an issue for us, we haven’t been consistent enough. But if you look at the resources we have and where we are in the budget table, second bottom, 10th place shows you we’re punching well above our weight.

“And you see the resources a club like Salford have today when they’ve got loads of injuries, but they still have quality players on the pitch.

“Look, they’re a better side than us, they’ve got a better group of players and they’re five points ahead of us at this moment in time.”