Derek Adams praises Morecambe’s never-say-die attitude in Salford comeback win

Posted Wednesday, February 24, 2021 by PA

Morecambe boss Derek Adams praised his side’s never-say-die attitude after two dramatic injury-time goals earned them a thrilling 2-1 League Two victory over promotion rivals Salford.

Adams was a happy man after seeing goals from Carlos Mendes Gomes and Aaron Wildig deep into second-half stoppage-time clinch maximum points after Brandon Thomas-Asante’s first-half opener.

He said: “I’m absolutely delighted with the win.

“We started the game well and we took risks to match Salford up man-for-man and it worked well for us.

“We managed to restrict them to very few chances and to lose the goal we did just before half-time was a real blow.

“We came back in the second half and missed a couple of chances before we scored the two goals in injury time to take the points – which is no more than we deserved at the end of the day.

“We have scored a lot of second-half goals this season and this team never knows when to stop and that is a really good thing to have. They train well and their fitness levels and desire to win a game is amazing.

“They are hungry and they just keep on going.”

The visitors looked set for the three points through Thomas-Asante’s goal just before the break when his shot from the edge of the box squirmed through Kyle Letheren’s grasp.

The late drama started when Morecambe levelled in the third minute of added time when Mendes Gomes scored from close range after a Yann Songo’o header came back off the crossbar from a John O’Sullivan corner.

Two minutes later the hosts sealed a remarkable comeback when Toumani Diaguraga’s long-range shot was turned into the net by Wildig from close range to seal the home side’s win.

Salford boss Richie Wellens admitted he was “sickened” by the late defeat.

He said: “I feel kind of numb because we should have seen the game off.

“It’s sickening to lose the game because for 80 minutes we were very good on a very difficult night but in the last 10 or 15 minutes we made some poor decisions.

“We went into a negative mode and we went from looking really organised to looking all over the place.

“There is some kind of mental block there but we have to get over it. There are spots for promotion there this year and we need to put a run together to make sure we get one of those spots.

“If we do the basics and compete we will win our games but if we don’t do that then you will get beat.”