Nigel Adkins hails five-star Tranmere following victory at 10-man Salford

Posted Wednesday, December 27, 2023 by PA

Nigel Adkins claimed his Tranmere side were together and enjoying themselves after recording a 5-1 League Two victory away to 10-man Salford.

Harvey Saunders, Kieron Morris, Connor Jennings, Regan Hartley and Josh Hawkes were on target as Tranmere recorded their first away win of the season.

Matthew Lund scored Salford’s only goal which had little impact in the context of an otherwise one-sided performance, while the hosts lost Conor McAleny to a 72nd-minute red card.

Tranmere have lost one of their last eight in the league after losing four in a row prior to their current purple patch.

A delighted Adkins said: “When the team is together, everyone achieves more. Everyone is understanding their roles and responsibilities, stepping up, talking and organising each other.

“We enjoy being resilient, we enjoy grafting and working hard and we enjoy being physical. The lads were good with that and yes, we’ve got an away win. It’s been a long time coming and the fans were great.

“I thought we were outstanding, first half in particular. Our defensive shape, our resolve, our organisation to be aggressive while we go and press was great.”

“Harvey Saunders was a massive threat all the way through. I can’t speak highly enough of Connor Jennings.

“The way we pressed as a team in a compact shape, to press aggressively was great. Salford want to pass it and we nullified that in a big way. We were such a threat.

“We scored five but we could have scored seven or eight.”

The result leaves Salford winless in their last eight league games.

After defeat, under-fire Ammies head coach Neil Wood did not speak to the media – leaving such responsibilities to goalkeeper Alex Cairns.

Cairns said: “We need to stick together now more than ever. It wasn’t good enough all over the pitch, we need to bounce back with a much better performance than that and people need to stick their chest out and start putting performances in.

“We’ve always been in games, but today we were down and out and that’s the first time I’ve seen that from this group.

“The leaders within that dressing room need to keep this group together and that’s the fundamentals of football.

“We have to expect better and demand better.

“We’ve been very unfortunate with injuries – and that’s not an excuse it’s just a fact. The results haven’t been there.”

Wood could well be on the brink of losing his job, but Cairns insisted that his attitude to turn things around would remain the same, no matter who was in charge.

He added: “I could have a horrible relationship with any manager, but I don’t care who is in charge.

“I just want to be better and none of us were good enough but there’s a good group of lads in there.”