Salford look to strengthen play-off position tonight as former Barcelona youth player in line for potential debut

New signing Louie Barry could make his first appearance as Salford City host play-off rivals Walsall tonight (January 31) off the back of a 3-2 loss to Crawley Town.

The former Barcelona academy winger joined Salford on loan from Aston Villa yesterday (January 30).

Salford were 3-0 down before the hour mark in their last match against Crawley and were unable to complete a comeback after two goals from Ryan Watson and Mathew Lund.

Salford manager Neil Wood was particularly unhappy about the first two goals Walsall scored.

Wood said: “I think the biggest disappointment was the first two goals we conceded.

“The first two goals off corners, really soft goals to concede and that kind of put us on the back foot.”

Wood was pleased with his team’s performance in the second half after conceding the third goal.

He said: “I thought we got back into the game really well and we managed to get two goals back and with a bit of luck we could have a chance at the end.”

Salford currently sit fifth in League Two with Wood after the game acknowledging this team were still in a strong position in their pursuit of a play-off spot but was disappointed with his team not being able to extend the point gap between them and their play off rivals below them in the table.

He said: “We know we’re in a good position but disappointed we just couldn’t couldn’t create that gap between us.”

Walsall, who are in 14th place, go into the game in slightly better form than Salford with them picking up ten points from the last five games, more than Salford’s seven points from the last five games.

Salford will be keen to strengthen their play-off position with a win tonight however a win for Walsall would put them in a good position in the play-off race.

Three points for Walsall would put them two points off the play-off positions while still having two games in hand over play-rivals Swindon and Mansfield.

Stevie Mallan, Jack Jenkins, Richard Nartey and Liam Shephard are all unavailable for Salford tonight.

The game kicks off tonight at 7.45pm at the Peninsula Stadium.