Richie Wellens wants more from stuttering Salford

Posted Wednesday, March 17, 2021 by PA

Frustrated Salford boss Richie Wellens has demanded his side take more risks after the goalless draw against Colchester was their 10th at home this season.

The ambitious Ammies have seen their promotion momentum stifled by a run of one win in seven games, leaving them five points off the play-offs, and struggled to break down the U’s.

James Wilson flashed an effort wide towards the end of a dire first half in which U’s captain Harry Pell came closest when he headed over.

Salford were much better after the break but Jason Lowe and then Ibou Touray wasted their best chances, while Colchester came closest through Callum Harriott and substitute Noah Chilvers.

“We probably didn’t do enough to win it. We didn’t take enough risks,” said Wellens.

“We were never in any doubt of losing the game but you have to give credit to Colchester, the distances between their defence and midfield was very good.

“We just didn’t play enough balls in behind, our runs weren’t clever enough but we kept going and kept trying. We just need to take more risks, put more balls into the box.

“We put three or four of those in but players were peeling out to the edge of the box rather than making that eight to 10-yard run where you might get hurt but you might just win the game for us.

“We need to make more chances to have more chances of scoring. We definitely didn’t pass the ball well enough although it is difficult.

“We tried, so I give every credit to my players, but credit Colchester who were organised and disciplined. When you come up against a team like that you need to score as early as possible to disrupt them and change the rhythm of the game but I think they deserved a point.

“It’s a crazy league, we need a big push. We need a really big push against Cheltenham. We have two tough away games coming up but I don’t care that they are tough.

“It’s a chance to gain points on our direct opposition. We are controlling games but we have to take more risks. The energy was very good after a long and emotional week and our front players lacked that spark.”

The U’s meanwhile have now gone a club record nine away matches without a goal, but boss Wayne Brown was pleased with the point.

“A real disciplined performance from the lads tonight,” he said.

“We went about it a little bit differently to what we have done of late, we respected Salford and the individuals they have got because we knew they were good footballers.

“We knew they would dominate the ball for large spells of the game but I thought that we denied them opportunities and space in front of our back four where they are at their most dangerous. Also we created maybe three or four good chances to score goals ourselves which is a really pleasing evening.

“There are 12 games to go and we need to get as many points as we can. We take it one day at a time, we did that on Saturday against Grimsby which was obviously an important game for obvious reasons and we felt it was a real positive display, we just need that rub of the green.

“Tonight we knew the chances were probably going to be limited but again to deny Salford away from home and restrict them to very few opportunities it just shows it was a disciplined performance.”