Karl Robinson frustrated as Chesterfield 'steal' win against Salford City

Salford could not find the breakthrough after dominating the chances as they were denied by goalkeeper Zach Hemming, the woodwork and some last-ditch defending. And they suffered a gut-punch with seconds remaining when the Spireites pounced in the 93rd minute when Sam Curtis’ cross was turned into his own net by Brandon Cooper.

Robinson said: “I think it is a really easy game to analyse. I think for 90 minutes of that game we were the better team. I thought we asked a lot of questions. We had a couple of chances in the first-half and in the second-half we probably had three or four. I feel sorry for the players because they have given everything but we just didn’t take our chances. They have ended up stealing it with an own goal in the 93rd minute.”

Chesterfield only created half chances throughout the game and were on the ropes in the second 45. But they finished strong and managed to pinch a winner to send their travelling fans wild and secure their first win in six.

It looked to be petering out to a 0-0 draw and Town were trying run down the clock as they tried to bring on Kyle McFadzean and Sammy Braybrooke but, out of nowhere, they managed to pinch the points against the run of play.

Robinson continued: "The bit I am really disappointed about is that we had positive substitutions on the pitch but for whatever reason we went 10 yards deeper. I thought that goal was going to come because of our mentality. I was screaming. What is the philosophy? We always attack. We are always brave. Yes, if we are winning we can consolidate. But at 0-0 be the team that turns the screw, be the team that asks questions of the opposition.

"We have to learn from that. Stay on the front-foot. We are kicking towards our fans and we should be positive. But for whatever reason we took the negative option and went 10-15 yards deeper. They were always going to flood the outside because they were playing a back four. We worked all week on making sure our distances were high and aggressive and making sure we were asking more questions of their full-backs than they were asking of our wing-backs.”

Defeat for Salford meant they dropped from second to fourth, while Chesterfield climbed up a place to eighth. Robinson, who could only smile when talking about his poor record against Chesterfield in his managerial record, added: "There are some good teams but we have to be a team that stays on the front-foot all of the time. I am proud of them, we are 11 games with one defeat and because of that we have put ourselves in a wonderful position, but you have to learn from that.”