Salford boss Neil Wood saluted a ‘professional’ performance from his team after they eased to a 2-0 victory against relegation-threatened Hartlepool.
The Ammies remain firmly in the play-off picture after two first-half goals from Matt Smith and Louie Barry proved the difference.
The second half was largely unspectacular from both sides but Wood’s team had done enough and the play-off dream remains firmly alive.
Wood said: “The two goals we scored were both excellent but then at half-time the message was a bit more about not being quite so expansive.
“It wasn’t all about playing ultimate football I suppose – we just needed to keep the distances and the connections close.
“It was much more important to get the three points rather than necessarily playing that well, particularly in the second half when we’d got ourselves two-nil up.
“It was just about putting in a professional display in the second half and that’s exactly what we did.
“It was nice to get a clean sheet, too. We’ve not had one for a while so that was always on our minds.
“We’re just staying in and around those play-off positions and that’s all it has to be about at this stage of the season.
“It certainly tees us up nicely for the next couple of games.”
The Ammies were in control at the interval.
They went ahead when Smith rose highest to nod home and Barry doubled the lead with a crisp finish.
That was the end of the scoring as Hartlepool rarely threatened in the second period.
Despite this only being their second defeat in 10 games since John Askey took over the managerial reins, they are now three points adrift of safety in the drop zone.
Askey said: “We’ve played a decent team here but of course it’s still very frustrating.
“At the end of it they’ve put their chances away when it mattered.
“We had chances ourselves but for whatever reason we’ve just not been able to take them.
“Maybe that’s just the difference in quality between the two teams at opposite ends of the table.
“I’ve always said it’s going to be about the Crawley game on Saturday and that’s how it’s looking now.
“We can still get above them with a win at the weekend so we’ve got one chance.
“We’ve got a chance and we simply have to take it.
“Defensively we’ll need to do much better than we have done tonight.
“When you concede two goals in the first half like we did here then you’re always going to give yourself a mountain to climb.”
