The Bulldogs were lifted enormously by the outstanding win at Whitehaven and at least earned a bonus point from their terrific effort against Widnes when they were desperately unlucky not to win.
Thornton remarked: "It is feet-on-the-ground time. Salford are probably head and shoulders above anyone else in the division and it will be a good test as to how far we have progressed."
"We have played pretty well so far and had two very good performances but the intensity will go up another level on Sunday. This is a full-time team and they are expecting to comfortably win the league."
Stand-off Francis Maloney is a major doubt. He was hit on the head by an opponent's knee when making a tackle at Whitehaven and this affected his neck.
He was taken off for a while but was given the all-clear by the doctor and allowed to return, landing another vital drop-goal.
Maloney is rated at 50-50 and will be given a fitness test later in the week but if there is any doubt he will not be risked.
The Bulldogs have suffered a blow with back row man Andy Jarrett, who has been in good form, suffering a broken wrist and he will be out for four to six weeks. He took a knock at York but it was badly swollen after Monday's game and he went straight for X-ray.
Batley are set to re-sign half-back Richard Colley, who played eight games last season, and is back from a stint playing in France. He has been training at Mount Pleasant and will be in the reserve team, who play their opening league fixture at York tonight (8pm).
A number of young players have responded to the club's invitation to join the reserve side with a view to moving up and they will join such senior squad players as Michael Kite, Steve Brook, Nat Brown and Scott Childs in the team. The Bulldogs' first home fixture is against Halifax a week on Saturday (April 5) at 2.30pm.
Thornton, like everyone at Mount Pleasant, was delighted with the success at Whitehaven, Batley's first win over the Cumbrians in 13 matches, dating back to August, 2003, when they beat them 15-6 at home.
The coach did add one note of caution when he said: "We started like this last year, when we won at Dewsbury and drew with Sheffield and then things went wrong.
"Monday's win was an exceptional response because everyone was so down after losing in the last seconds against Widnes. To react to that the way we did was a great credit to them. The lads showed a lot of mental toughness and the defence was outstanding. We gave away a bit of a soft try but the rest of the defensive work was outstanding.
"We have put a few new things in place and have worked really hard getting off the defensive line and it paid dividends. Now comes the difficult part, we have to keep it going.
Thornton had high praise for all the players but singled out second row men Kevin Crouthers and Tim Spears for particular praise. He added: "They found Kev almost impossible to stop and he made so much ground. Tim had a slow start due to his injury but is now almost at full match fitness and they are working tremendously well as a pair."