NANTWICH bounced back to winning ways with a deserved 2-0 win over Salford City on Saturday.

The Dabbers were reeling after back-to-back defeats to Gedling and Fleetwood Town, before going down 5-2 at Newcastle Town last Tuesday.

But Steve Davis's side battled back to secure all three points against in-form Salford at Jackson Avenue. Now the player-boss is looking for his players to get on a run.

He said: 'The games against Fleetwood and Newcastle were always going to be tough as they are at the top of the league. The sides up there are paying bigger money and I have to be a realist.

'Although Salford had been picking up points it was a game we knew we were capable of winning and it was a deserved victory.

'Salford are a strong and intimidating side but our lads were not phased and did a good job. I was pleased to keep a clean sheet.

'Now we have a few games which we can do well in, starting against Squires Gate on Saturday. We need to take points off the teams in and around us and, if we do that, we should push towards the top seven or eight, which is where I feel we should be.'

Glyn Blackhurst opened the scoring on 20 minutes on Saturday, arriving on the end of a neat one-two to fire into the bottom right corner from 12 yards.

Town were let-off when a second-half Salford penalty struck the upright, and skip-per Danny Griggs settled matters when he cut in from the left to blast under the keeper on 82 minutes.

Paul Santos is available for Saturday's game after returning from suspension.

Newcastle hot-shot Michael Lennon proved to be the difference in the topsy-turvy derby encounter at the Lyme Valley Stadium. The striker notched up a quickfire hat-trick to sink the Dabbers.

Former Nantwich boss Nigel Gleghorn pulled the strings in midfield for Newcastle, who opened the scoring through Andy Bott, before Lennon made it 2-0.

Paul Rutter hit back for the Dabbers, and Neil O'Brien made it 2-2 at the break. But Lennon grabbed a second-half double before Gleghorn completed the rout before the end.

Nantwich Town Reserves went down 2-1 to Malpas. They travel to face Curzon Ashton Reserves on Saturday.