A clinical second half performance saw Salford come from behind to hammer four past Barrow in a 5-3 win in the Peninsula Stadium rain.
Callum Hendry's fine strike put the Ammies ahead midway through the first half, but Cole Stockton's curling finish levelled the scores before the break.
The visitors then went ahead early in the second half when Tyrell Warren headed in Robbie Gotts' corner. However a strong Salford response saw Conor McAleny level things up shortly before the hour mark after quick thinking from Hendry to restart the game.
Hendry then restored Salford's lead again with a fizzing shot from the top of the box, and Matt Smith's brace extended both Salford's unbeaten run against Barrow and under Karl Robinson to eight games. Stockton scored a late consolation, but Salford saw the result out comfortably.
Having fallen behind after taken the lead, then coming back to emphatically secure victory, Karl Robinson was pleased with a statement performance from his side.
"We took the lead with a wonder goal then pegged ourselves back through some sloppy play, then to lose the lead and go behind early in the second half, then to go through gears in the way that we did was sensational.
"I'm really proud of my players, proud of what they did, I’m thankful that they work hard, take things on board, they managed to find a way to score five goals, I look at the scoreboard and see 5-2 and think ‘wow, that’s a real statement performance’, then to concede the stupid goal the way we did is something we’re a bit frustrated about ourselves.
"Like when I say to you goalkeepers should make saves, strikers should score goals and I think today there were large parts of our game that were exceptional on a very difficult pitch. Listen we’re not going to play like that week-in, week-out, we know that, especially the way we played second half.
"You don’t ever think you’re a good team, you know you are because of the performance you put in. It’s not a thought process it’s an action and their actions today were brilliant, to score five goals, I think it’s 13 in all four games we’ve played here, that’s a real turn around from the players."
There was just one change to the side that drew 2-2 with Doncaster on Tuesday night which saw Conor McAleny come back in for Callum Morton, while Connor McLennan was named amongst the substitutes in place of Ethan Ingram. The former Oldham striker created the first meaningful attempt of the afternoon as he drove forward on the left, cut inside of Rory Feely and let fly with a low shot that was parried away bt Paul Farman and cleared.
A couple of minutes later the Ammies won a free-kick in a central position, 30 yards from goal, and fresh from his effort that secured a point midweek it was Luke Garbutt who stepped up. He caught it well enough but his curling effort didn't quite make it inside of the post.
On the back to consecutive defeats, Barrow started to grow into the game and in the 10th minute ex-Salford loanee Robbie Gotts took a free-kick from deep that was brought down by George Ray for Niall Canavan to poke towards goal, but Callum Hendry blocked that shot for a corner. Gotts was on that one too and swung a cross into the far post that Ray headed, but Alex Cairns saved.
In the 17th minute Junior Luamba had an effort pushed away by Farman and Barrow broke up the other end, Mazeed Ogungbo winning a corner off Dec John. Once again Gotts delivered and found Canavan in space a couple of yards out, but his hooked effort was also saved by Cairns. Kian Spence then hit a lot shot wide as the visitors started getting to grips with the conditions, but they were punished shortly after. Luamba again was involved as he received the ball in the area, but with his back to goal laid a pass off for Hendry to hit from the top of the box, and drill beyond Farman's reach into the left-hand post.
The lively Luamba nearly helped himself to his first goal in Salford colours after Elliot Watt's brilliant through ball picked out the youngster on the right. He rounded Ogungbo, but his low shot to the near post was saved by Farman.
Football can be a funny game of fine margins, and in the 41st minute Garbutt came close to scoring his second goal of the week as he crashed a shot in from the left that came off the underside of the bar and Barrow cleared. The Bluebirds quickly worked the ball up to the other end though, with Cole Stockton being allowed time at the top of the box to curl an equaliser into the right-hand post.
As the teams went down the tunnel level the weather was getting no better and murmurs of concern rumbled around the stands. Those concerns were amplified in the 47th minute when the visitors then took the lead, the former Salford duo of Gotts and Tyrell Warren combining as Gotts delivered a corner from the left for Warren to head in from a couple of yards out.
However instead of using it to fuel themselves up for a first away win of the year, Barrow were overpowered by a determined Salford side who equalised shortly before the hour mark. After Spence tried to stop Salford from taking a throw-in on the left, Hendry caught the Bluebirds out with a quick throw to Watt, who played an incisive pass through for McAleny on the left of the area. Without much hesitation the forward whipped his foot around a shot that flew across Farman and into the far post to make it 2-2.
Salford continued to push forward, encouraged by the now buoyant home crowd, and had a succession of corners as they put the usually solid Barrow defence under more and more pressure. It told in the 67th minute when Hendry restored the lead after Curtis Tilt knocked the ball down to him to thump in from the top of the box for his second of the game, and fourth in three games.
The pressure continued and in the 78th minute Matt Smith finally had the chance to make his mark on the game, notching his 20th league goal of the season after arriving to head John's cross past Farman. His second came with three minutes remaining, this time Watt swinging a free-kick into the near post that came off Smith and found its way into the bottom corner.
Stockton has been in good form himself since joining on loan from Burton Albion in January, but it was too little too late when his 90th minute goal bobbled past Cairns after the visitors caught Salford cold.
