Karl Robinson has told his Salford players to have a winning mentality if they want to remain at the club after they were held to a frustrating 1-1 draw with Colchester.
The Ammies looked on course for a fifth victory in nine games thanks to Matt Smith’s first-half opener – his 22nd goal of the season.
However, a battling Colchester side snatched a point thanks to young substitute Bradley Ihionven’s late strike.
Salford, whose eight-match unbeaten start under new boss Robinson came to an end at the weekend, could not source a late winner, despite their best efforts.
“We’re here to win and these players are paid to win,” Robinson said when asked about his side’s aim for the season.
“They’re professional athletes and that’s my mentality. If they don’t believe in that, then they can go.
“Tonight, it’s probably a fair result, but we were nowhere near our best. It was an under-par performance with stupid actions.
“When you look at how fragmented we were with the amount of players we’ve had out, I can’t be too disappointed.
“But I’m not in the industry to draw games so there’s so many elements of our game that could’ve been better.
“The players in the dressing room are down because they know they’ve underperformed and missed another opportunity to get three points.
“It was a real fight to put a team on that pitch; they competed, but we’ve not seen the quality or fluidity that we’ve seen from a Salford City team.”
Meanwhile, Colchester continued their mini-revival under new boss Danny Cowley.
The U’s, who sit five points above the Sky Bet League Two relegation zone, have now lost only one of eight games since their change in the dugout.
“There’s no point me worrying about other teams because I can’t control their destinies, but I can only control ours,” said Cowley.
“I’ll put all my energy and my efforts into helping the team; they needed lifting at half-time and we have to fight in those moments.
“We didn’t deserve to go in 1-0 down, but we did, and you have to then respond. And certainly in the latter part of the game, we did that.
“Credit to the players, but we just couldn’t win it. After two tough away games and on two difficult pitches, we take the points and move on.
“We’re trying to win every game because that’s our mentality. We’ve now only had one loss in eight, so we are becoming a really competitive team.
“But we’re working really hard to try and turn these draws into wins.
“It’s just about us; we’re trying to get to 50 points as that will be enough for us to retain our status.”
Vancouver Whitecaps v Los Angeles FC: Sartini hoping to benefit from missing international players
Vancouver Whitecaps head coach Vanni Sartini believes the international break will benefit his side ahead of welcoming Los Angeles FC to BC Place this weekend.
The hosts will be without top scorer Ryan Gauld along with Ali Ahmed, Sam Adekugbe, Andres Cubas, Fafa Picault and Pedro Vite as they aim to break into the top seven of the Western Conference and avoid playing in the first round of the playoffs.
However, Sartini believes that this presents an opportunity for his fringe players to step up against one of the better sides in the division, having seen his side fall to back-to-back defeats since clinching their place in the post-season.
“It is very important to win,” Sartini said. “Unfortunately, we did not do well in the last couple of games so now this game has become one where we can get back into the top seven and avoid the first round of the playoffs.
“It’s important to get back to where we have been for the last 30 plus games. We need to reset and good. I think it’s also a good think, I might sound crazy, that we have the international break.
“We have a lot of players that will need to step up and need to be there, so they come perhaps a little fresher and without the bad memories of the last couple of games.”
LAFC, meanwhile, come into the encounter on the back of four consecutive wins in all competitions, including their US Open Cup final triumph.
The Black and Gold know a victory will seal second place in the Western Conference standings after securing a 3-0 away win over Sporting Kansas City, though they too will be without three first-team players for the trip to Vancouver.
“All in all, we’re happy,” head coach Steve Cherundolo said after their last victory. “They were important points for us. A good performance.”
“For us to keep getting these results is huge,” said defender Aaron Long.
“To go as far as we did in Leagues Cup and to go all the way to the end in the Open Cup, and still be fighting for first place in the league is really tough to do.”
PLAYERS TO WATCH
Vancouver Whitecaps – Brian White
In the absence of top scorer Gauld, who is on international duty with Scotland, White will carry Vancouver’s goal threat for the visit of LAFC.
The American has played more games against this weekend’s opponents than any other team he has faced in the MLS (13), winning four of those (D3 L6), while scoring three times.
LAFC – Mateusz Bogusz
Bogusz has 20 goal involvements (14 goals, six assists) in 30 MLS appearances this term, netting a goal against Vancouver in LAFC’s 3-0 win earlier this season.
The Pole, however, has won just one of his three games against Vancouver (D1 L1), and he will be hoping to get his record into positive numbers this time around.
MATCH PREDICTION: LAFC WIN
The hosts are currently on 58 points with two matches left to play this term. They are trying to reach the 60-point mark for the third time in the last six seasons (2019, 2022) while no other MLS team has done so more than once in that time.
Vancouver have lost only two of their last nine regular-season meetings with LAFC (W4 D3), though one of those defeats was a 3-0 loss against the Black and Gold earlier this campaign.
The Whitecaps come into the game on the back of consecutive defeats for the first time since June. They have not lost three straight matches in all competitions since the start of the 2023 season.
OPTA WIN PROBABILITY
Vancouver Whitecaps – 29.6%
Draw – 24.8%
LAFC – 45.6%
Wales will benefit from Iceland collapse in long term, says Bellamy
Wales will benefit from the experience of Friday's Nations League draw with Iceland despite squandering a 2-0 lead to draw 2-2, believes boss Craig Bellamy.
Bellamy's reign began with a positive return of four points from Nations League matches against Turkiye and Montenegro, but they suffered their first major setback under him on Friday.
Brennan Johnson and Harry Wilson scored to give Wales a 2-0 half-time lead at Laugardalsvollur, only for Logi Tomasson's strike and Danny Ward's own goal to earn Iceland a point.
Despite Iceland registering the most shots they have ever recorded in a Nations League match (20), Bellamy was not too disheartened by the result.
"It was good, I enjoyed it. It was what I expected to be honest, I said going out second half that this would be tough," Bellamy told S4C.
"We'll benefit so much from that 45 minutes, it's so good for us. In the long run this will be beneficial.
"Obviously to be 2-0 up and draw is disappointing, but it was a pleasing performance. It was about me learning about the players and them learning from us.
"It's never good to concede, I don't like it, we'll look at it again. I felt momentum played a big part. It's about us understanding when to take the sting out the game, which will come.
"Overall, I'm pleased with the performance, we've had two yellows which will mean a change on Monday, but it's predictable due to different styles of refereeing. It is what it is."
Despite a frustrating second half, Bellamy is the first manager in Wales' history to go unbeaten through his first three competitive games at the helm, with one win and two draws.
Bosnia-Herzegovina 1-2 Germany: Undav double secures second Nations League win
Deniz Undav netted twice in the space of six first-half minutes as Germany held on for a 2-1 win against Bosnia-Herzegovina in their Nations League match at the Stadion Bilino Polje.
The Stuttgart striker found the back of the net in the 30th and 36th minutes to pull Julian Nagelsmann’s side into a two-goal lead, but captain Edin Dzeko’s goal for the hosts after restart set up a tense ending to the game which the Germans navigated.
Florian Wirtz ran onto a lofted ball from Robert Andrich before laying it back for Undav to open the scoring at the half-hour mark in the League A Group 3 fixture, but Bosnia-Herzegovina were unfortunate not to equalise in an instant.
Ermedin Demirovic broke free on a counter just four minutes later and beat German goalkeeper Alexander Nubel with his shot only to see it brush the top of the crossbar on its way out.
It proved to be a costly miss as Undav turned in a low cross from Maximilian Mittelstadt a couple of minutes later to give the visitors a two-goal cushion.
Undav thought he had his hat-trick in the 58th minute only for the goal to be ruled out for offside before Dzeko halved the deficit for Sergej Barbarez’s side heading home a Benjamin Tahriovic corner with 20 minutes left to play.
But the hosts failed to find an equaliser as group toppers Germany preserved their unbeaten start and went two points clear of the Netherlands with their second win. Bosnia-Herzegovina, meanwhile, sit bottom with only one point from three matches.
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