Salford take 'collective responsibility' for loss

Salford City boss Karl Robinson has said they take a collective responsibility over their 3-1 defeat by League Two play-off rivals Grimsby Town.

The Mariners scored three goals in nine first-half minutes, with Cole Stockton on target for Salford after the break on a miserable night at Blundell Park.

As a result, Grimsby leapfrogged Salford into eighth in the table with both sides a point off the play-off places, but the Ammies have now lost five of their past six league games.

Asked whether the players admitted accountability at half-time and full-time, Robinson told BBC Radio Manchester: "I do as well, it's not just them. We do it as a collective.

"You've got to make sure in those moments when you are challenged with emotion and a little bit of quality that you stay calm in your actions.

"If I'm critiquing the group, in that nine‑minute period, some players lost complete control of their emotions. That's what cost us the game.

"If you watched the game and took the goals out of it, you'd probably think we were maybe the team that would have won the game. It's baffling."

• Grimsby beat play-off rivals Salford to go eighth

Salford had been in the automatic promotion places at the end of January but a torrid spell over February has meant they have tumbled down the table and are now outside the top seven.

A difficult evening was made worse as Kelly N'Mai came off with a hamstring injury, Ben Woodburn ended his night wearing a protective boot, while Ossama Ashley suffered an ankle injury.

N'Mai was forced off in the 16th minute with Woodburn making way shortly before half-time, however his replacement Ashley was himself hauled off 11 minutes into the second half.

Despite the result, Robinson was pleased with how his side responded after the break.

"The pleasing and positive thing is that we came out in the second half with all that's gone against us and we ended up winning the second half 1-0," he added.

"It's not enough and it's not acceptable but I thought we came out, we didn't feel sorry for ourselves with everything that went on, I thought we tried to be positive moving forward."