Karl Robinson believes there is still “much more to come” from his Salford players despite seeing them climb to third in the League Two standings courtesy of a club-record fifth straight win.
The Ammies cruised to a routine 2-0 success at struggling Harrogate on New Year’s Day thanks to goals in either half from Cole Stockton and Matty Lund.
That result saw Salford claim five successive victories in the Football League for the first time and lifted them up four places in the table and into an automatic promotion spot.
And, although satisfied with the progress that his team has made during the demanding festive period, City’s manager was quick to acknowledge that nothing is decided in January.
“We are third, and that just shows how far we’ve come,” Robinson said. “But we have still not done anything, there is so much more still to come from us and nobody wins anything at this time of year.
“But, this has been a very positive period of time for us. We’ve rotated, we’ve made some risky decisions during this Christmas period because we know that there is going to be a real fall-off in energy levels because of the amount of games that are asked of players at this level.
“But, sometimes by a little bit of luck, and sometimes because of having higher energy levels than the opposition, and sometimes because of a little bit of talent, we have managed to get the results.”
Stockton’s 39th-minute opener set Salford on their way and Matty Lund doubled the lead in the 56th minute, but City could easily have run out more comfortable winners in North Yorkshire after creating a host of chances.
And, while he conceded that his players could have been more clinical in the final third, Robinson was still very happy with their overall display.
“I think it was a tremendous performance,” he added.
“Take away the stupid set-plays that we gave to the opposition, and I thought that we were very, very good.
“There have been moments in games [recently], but today I thought that we looked a very strong team – and hopefully we are only going to keep getting better.
“If anything, we wish that we got more goals. I think that our play certainly deserved that, especially in the first half and towards the latter part of the second half. We missed multiple chances.”
Robinson’s opposite number Simon Weaver saw his injury-hit side suffer a sixth defeat in seven winless matches, a sequence of results that has seen them drop to 22nd place, two points above the relegation places.
On the challenge of arresting that shocking run of form, Harrogate’s manager said: “This is our biggest test since we came up to this level.
“We have got nine players in the treatment room, so we have just got to dig deep and not feel sorry for ourselves and then sulk and really unravel.”
