Pete Wild was delighted his Fleetwood side converted hard work on the training pitch to earn a 2-0 win over Sky Bet League Two’s in-form side Salford.
Salford were seeking their seventh win on the spin in league action but early set-piece goals from Ronan Coughlan and Brendan Wiredu put Fleetwood in control.
Wild said since his team’s last game, a 2-1 defeat to Doncaster on New Year’s Day, his side had switched their focus on the training field and the hours of hard work had paid off with victory at Salford.
“I’m really pleased with how we went about our business today,” said Wild.
“We’ve got some really good footballers here but sometimes we’ve got to show a bit more grit and determination and we’ve put on training sessions that bring out that grit and determination over the last 18 days.
“That’s transferred to the pitch, which is great. When the players go and deliver like that, it doesn’t half help.
“I think today you saw a different type of Fleetwood Town team than in our last fixture but I certainly don’t think that we’re the finished article yet.
“I’ve been looking set piece-wise and thought we’ve got so much talent to go and head the ball, that we need to do it more, and I thought we did that today.
“First half we took the game to Salford and matched them. I talked about intensity and wanting it. Salford have got massive intensity and drive and I think we more than matched them.”
Salford manager Karl Robinson was disappointed with the goals his side conceded which left them chasing the contest.
But Robinson cited a long injury list, with nine players unavailable, as a reason why they were unable to extend their winning run.
He said: “If you take the two set-pieces out of the game, I thought territorially we had a large part of the game but we weren’t at our best.
“I thought the early set-piece goal was multiple people switching off. But with nine players unavailable, you can’t replace that many players.
“Hakeeb Adelukun felt something with his hamstring yesterday and we didn’t want to risk him, and Haji Mnoga has been ill all week so that’s why he didn’t start. We’ve had multiple things go against us over the last seven days that you wouldn’t believe.
“I don’t think our performance levels today were that far off it but it’s a defeat and it’s obviously brought our great run to an end in the league and we’ll roll our sleeves up and go again next week.”
