Neil Wood vows Salford will ‘keep pushing’ in automatic promotion hunt

Manager Neil Wood praised his “hungry” Salford side as their League Two promotion bid was boosted by a 2-0 victory over Sutton.

A first half Conor McAleny double fired the Ammies to a second successive victory as they rose to fifth in the table.

The in-form Salford striker opened the scoring early on with a precise low finish as the hosts assumed control.

McAleny added a second after a Lewis Ward mistake shortly before the interval, notching a fifth goal in only three games.

Rob Milsom had the opportunity to hand the travelling U’s a late lifeline but new Salford recruit Alex Cairns saved from the spot.

“I’m very pleased to get back-to-back wins,” Wood said.

“We’re happy to start the year well at home and I’m pleased with the performance.

“We knew with the conditions that it was going to be a difficult game and a battle, which I thought we coped well with.

“To come in at half time 2-0 up, it gave us a nice cushion.

“That third place is up for grabs but there’ll be us and eight other teams thinking that as well.

“We’re going to challenge all the way and we’re confident we can be up there. We want a consistency of wins but we feel like we can catch anyone.

“We can only get there with wins, so the last two games have been a step in the right direction.

“We’ve got to keep pushing ourselves; we’ve got a good squad and good people in that changing room, and we’re hungry to want more.”

Meanwhile, Sutton’s four-match unbeaten run came to an end as their poor away record of two victories on their travels continues.

Boss Matt Gray said: “It was a disappointing afternoon for us.

“We’ve had several good moments and Milsom’s been an excellent penalty taker for us but today wasn’t to be.

“If that penalty goes in, I believe we’d go on and at least get a point.

“There’s still a lot of positives and I’m very pleased with a lot of things but I’m surprised that we’ve lost the game.

“We’re not far away, I’m really pleased with where we’re at.

“We’ve been on a great run of form and today’s a decent performance on probably the worst pitch in the league in very difficult conditions.

“We’ve come here against the favourites to win the league at the start of the season with one of the biggest budgets and we’ve gone toe-to-toe.

“I’m pleased with a lot of things but it just wasn’t to be. I can accept that as long as I feel the lads put a shift in and they did.”