Neil Wood frustrated to see the lead slip away twice at Salford

Posted Sunday, September 04, 2022 by PA

A frustrated Neil Wood rued missed chances as Salford were held to a 2-2 draw at home to Crawley.

The Ammies relinquished the lead on two occasions against a Crawley side who are still without a victory in Sky Bet League Two under new boss Kevin Betsy.

Callum Hendry handed the hosts a dream start inside three minutes but the Salford lead was cancelled out when Tom Nichols rifled home.

After the interval, Ryan Watson restored the Salford advantage only for the visitors to equalise once again when substitute Ludwig Francillette bundled in.

New recruit Hendry struck the post as the Ammies rallied in their quest to maintain their 100 per cent record at home, but ultimately had to settle for a point.

Boss Wood said: “It was frustrating in the sense that we looked in control of the game and it slipped out of our hands.

“We conceded two really sloppy goals and when we’re pushing for the winner, it was very frustrating so it’s really disappointing for us.

“We need to be better when we go 1-0 up and shut the game down as quickly as we can. For some reason we’re taking our foot off the gas.

“We want to get promotion, there’s no hiding behind that. We want to be high up in the league.

“It’s a long way away and we haven’t put that objective out that we must get promoted; what we are doing is going week by week.

“This is an ambitious club with ambitious owners, and they want it to be in the right way and the right style.

“That’s what we’ve introduced so far and we’re going out into every game with confidence that we can get something out of the game.”

Crawley boss Betsy said: “Considering Salford haven’t lost at home, it’s a really good point in the end.

“You can’t start a game of football like that; within two minutes, we were 1-0 down, it’s ridiculous and a really poor goal to concede.

“But there’s a real strength of character and resilience about this group and in the second half we got into the ascendancy and started to control the game.

“That second goal was schoolboy defending and it’s not acceptable for us.

“We’ve worked really hard on set plays, for and against, so that goal was really disappointing because we’ve nullified a really good team and our game plan was spot on.

“But again, we showed good resilience so that’s pleasing.

He added: “We don’t want to keep having to come back, but it shows a real togetherness within the group and a never-say-die attitude. And we’ll need that from now until the rest of the season.”