Karl Robinson hails Ryan Graydon finish despite forward’s ‘blooper reel’

Karl Robinson hailed Ryan Graydon for overcoming his personal “bloopers reel” to fire Salford up to second in League Two with a hard-fought 1-0 win over Bristol Rovers.

The January signing scored his third goal in two games for the Ammies with a composed chip after eight minutes.

In a game lacking clear-cut chances, the Irish striker missed a golden chance to add a second when he struck tamely at goalkeeper Brad Young with the goal gaping.

Attacker Kallum Cesay forced Young into a diving save before Graydon headed over from close range as Salford missed opportunities in the second half, but held on comfortably to extend their unbeaten run to 10 matches.

After the match, Robinson hailed “one of the best Salford performances in a long time”.

He said: “Today was positive for us. I thought we showed really good control.

“We missed chances that we should have taken to make the finish a little bit easier. If you had the bloopers reel today of Ryan Graydon, he probably missed two of the biggest sitters in his career.

“But he scored a wonderful goal, a lovely, well-worked one where we looked to hit them on the counter-attack and he took the goal like a class act.

“But when you are chasing things, trying to be aggressive and compete high up the league, you take any win that comes along.

“We don’t catch anybody here getting too carried away with where we are in the league.

“We’re very calm in our approach to situations. We know there are going to be difficult moments in this long season and we have to make sure that we’re calm through all of that as we try and achieve our ultimate goal.”

Rovers slipped to 22nd in League Two as boss Steve Evans watched his side from the stands, serving a touchline ban.

He said: “We never won our challenges. We never won our duels. We never played percentages and we didn’t deliver good set-plays.

“We didn’t have a good first half. We had the wind and did not make use of it.

“In the second half, we changed the shape and carried a bit more of a presence. But we still did not have enough first contacts.

“It’s a worry when you come to anywhere and you don’t have a fight and desire, we should have a fight and desire.

“We changed formation to get a grip in the middle of the park. But then they brought Matt Butcher on, who offers real physicality. We were a bit more forward in the second half.

“We are playing a good side and we accept that, but we should be coming here and getting something. We have to be much better than we were today.

“We made mistakes and there was a lack of intent, a lack of fighting and a lack of desire. We’re never going to get away from this end of the table if we’re lacking that.”