Karl Robinson hails Fabio Borini impact as Salford beat Walsall

Salford boss Karl Robinson was full of praise for Fabio Borini after the Italian forward marked his 400th game in club football with a vital goal as they beat Walsall 1-0.

Borini was introduced as Robinson made a triple substitution midway through the second half and broke the deadlock with a low shot 16 minutes from time.

Jamille Matt missed a chance to draw Walsall five minutes later when he failed to turn Mason Hancock’s low centre goalwards at full stretch and Salford held on to record an important win.

Robinson hailed the impact the former Liverpool, Sunderland and AC Milan striker, who won one senior cap for Italy, made off the bench in a match that was short of quality until his introduction.

He said: “It was a hard game for us. We just edged it with a fantastic goal from an Italian international. It shows you the quality we have in our squad.

“I feel ecstatic. I thought we were good and were the ones chasing the win.

“We have just been hit with injury after injury after injury and every single player and staff member has had to dig deep.

“We have been very, very good in the last few games. We have had a crazy 10 minutes away at Grimsby (conceding three goals to lose 3-1) but aside from that, it has been a wonderful four performances.”

Asked if he still has his sights set on achieving automatic promotion after his side closed the gap on the top three to four points, Robinson added: “Our first job is to catch the team in front of us. The second is to catch the team in front of them, quickly.

“We have still got to play Notts County, MK Dons, Bromley and Cambridge (the current top four), so there are some really difficult moments ahead for us. We have to try and drag these teams back.”

Walsall manager Mat Sadler was disappointed his side came out on the wrong side of a game he felt was hampered by a pitch in poor condition.

He said: “It was a horrendous game of football, which we knew it was going to be. We have watched their last five or six home games and the pitch is dreadful, as we can see.

“We knew how the game was going to go and we wanted to fall on the right side of the fight. Today, and we can probably say the same about our last couple of games, we’ve come out on the other side of that.

“I think in the two games previous to this, we’ve created loads but we haven’t had that extra run in the box, that extra bit of work that gets you on the other side of it.

“We haven’t defended it with that extra bit of work, that extra bit of concentration, that extra bit of, ‘I’m going to make sure that whatever happens, I’m coming the other side of my opponent’.

“That’s what won the game for them today. I don’t think it was a game of any quality but the one moment that bobbled around and ended up at their feet, they’ve taken and we haven’t been able to respond.

“Maybe you’re going through spells like this, it’s easier to take a step backwards than it is to take a step forward.”