Karl Robinson says ‘players giving everything’ as Salford chase top-three finish

Salford head coach Karl Robinson insists he has not given up on automatic promotion despite seeing his side held to a 0-0 draw at home to Gillingham.

Dominant throughout, Salford should have comfortably won and were unfortunate to see Ros Longelo’s curler come back off the crossbar after just 10 minutes.

Despite the result, Salford remain in the mix for at least a play-off spot and sit three points behind the top three.

“My players are giving everything they’ve got,” said Robinson. “They’re leaving everything on the pitch, and we’re finding ways to put ourselves three points from the top three.

“They give me everything every single week. Today we’ve drawn every ounce of quality out of them and every ounce of energy. I just wish we could have scored late on.

“They didn’t have a shot on target the entire game, that says one team was trying to win it. Defensively we were good in every aspect and we got in behind them four or five times and just didn’t capitalise.

“If I had a critique, we weren’t ruthless in the first half. Territorially, we asked them multiple questions with our final ball, we were just wasteful with our finishing. But, honestly, I’m so proud of them, they’re giving me everything.

“It’s easy for any manager to come out and say if we’d scored we’d have got two or three. I’ve used that one many times, but I believe if we’d scored the game would have opened up.

“This is a wonderful time of the year. It’s when the pressure on people becomes a privilege and something you’ve got to accept when you’re involved in the end-of-season moments.”

Gills boss Gareth Ainsworth was full of praise for his players’ monumental defensive effort, not least goalkeeper Glenn Morris who made some fine stops to thwart the hosts.

“It was a tough, stubborn display from my boys,” he said. “There were some incredible late saves from Glenn, one a fantastic save, but I said to him ‘that’s what you’re there for.’

“We try to force the shots from difficult angles for him, but they were magnificent saves and we could have scored late on.

“In the first half both sides were quite tentative. It looked like Salford had a lot to lose and they weren’t actually going right at us. I think that sort of spread into my team and we weren’t great either.

“At half-time I’ve got into the boys a little bit just to focus on getting on the second balls more and giving them some belief that we can beat them.

“The shift that some of the boys have given me, they have run their socks off today and this is a very tough Salford team to come and play against. You look at the results, look at who they’ve beaten, they are a good outfit.”