Karl Robinson hailed the determination shown by his Salford players after they completed a dramatic turnaround to beat Crawley 4-3.
The away side began the game on the front foot and took the lead after 33 minutes when Salford defender Adebola Olowu deflected Jay Williams’ shot into his own net.
The centre-back made amends when he fired a curling effort into the top corner in first-half stoppage time.
Crawley were awarded a penalty in the opening minute of the second half, but Harry McKirdy’s spot-kick was kept out by goalkeeper Matthew Young.
Salford briefly went in front when Matt Butcher turned home a pinpoint free-kick from Jorge Grant after 53 minutes, but Crawley turned the game around through two quickfire goals from Harry Forster and Williams.
Josh Austerfield met a teasing Kadeem Harris cross with a diving header to draw Salford level on 85 minutes and, a minute later, substitute Kallum Cesay coolly stroked home a late winner.
Following the match, Robinson hailed the “spirit” shown by his team to launch a late comeback.
He said: “I always have belief in my team and today we kept the belief in what we were doing and won in a special way.
“It doesn’t get any better than that. I was made up for Kallum (Cesay) to score the winning goal because he has had a difficult few weeks.
“We have played better in our last two games, where we lost to MK Dons and Bromley and got nothing out of it, and today we have scored four goals at home.
By hook or by crook, we have won today. In the other games where we played well and had more control, we lost.
“We want to be aggressive, relentless and entertaining. If you were to ask our fans, they would much rather see a performance like that than one where we sit deep, play negatively and pass the ball sideways. Today it paid off.”
Robinson hopes his team’s enthralling comeback created lasting memories for supporters in attendance and will inspire the next generation of Salford fans.
He added: “Football is a generational thing and when I saw a group of young fans celebrating the winner, it made me think of how important they are for us.
“The players and the fans are way more important than me. Hopefully, the fans here today will have kids who support Salford, and this place will become a real football hotbed in the future.”
For all of Salford’s joy, it was a frustrating end for the visitors.
“I don’t understand the last seven minutes,” said Crawley boss Scott Lindsey on his side’s YouTube channel.
“We showed real character and deserved so much more but we capitulated with seven minutes to go and did silly things.
“We are not far away. You can’t lose a game when you’re winning with seven minutes to go. You can sometimes draw, but to go on and lose it is a criminal offence.”
