Patient boss Yates needs to get rid of the misfiring players

Here we go again as Crawley Town give an object lesson in how to turn something into nothing.
Crawley Town fan and columnist Geoff Thornton SUS-150216-151358002Crawley Town fan and columnist Geoff Thornton SUS-150216-151358002
Crawley Town fan and columnist Geoff Thornton SUS-150216-151358002

Part of the problem is that a good run for the Reds lasts for just 90 minutes.

Actually that’s unfair as they dominated this game for the first half hour.

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They had five goal attempts in the first six minutes whilst the visitors didn’t manage a single threat until 33 minutes had gone.

It’s there in a nutshell. We were all over Notts County like the proverbial rash but couldn’t finish the chances we created nor create the openings we should have as the final ball often lacked quality.

True, Roy Carroll made a super save to deny Gavin Tomlin and Sonny Bradley saw his goal bound header hacked off the line but, by and large, we lacked the necessary skills and effort in front of goal.

As the minutes passed the regulars knew exactly where the game was going and sadly they were right, and it did.

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Even more disappointingly it was the same players who came up short and a cull is due.

The West Stand faithful know who they are and I’m fairly certain Mark Yates does too.

He may feel he has good reason to keep on selecting the misfits but he needs to be ruthless.

We are talking about professional footballers not Sunday parks players, yet the manager’s response to another inadequate display was that he was not going to beat them up about it.

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Is that where we are going wrong? We are told that mistakes are worked upon in training but if that is the case why do those mistakes continually reappear?

County’s goal was a prime example as our defence allowed scorer Filip Valencic so much room we could be forgiven for thinking he was suffering from bad B.O.

It was naturally no consolation that he accepted his gift with great aplomb.

It was the same players that gave us hope again and it was good to see George Smith collecting a rather apologetic Man of the Match award.

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He was less influential than on his unrecognised debut, but nevertheless calm and assured throughout.

New loanee Chris Atkinson did not have the same opportunities in an overcrowded midfield, when he came on but suggested he merits a start.

If we are to get away from “one step forward two steps back,” then it is time for the management to get their fingers out and take some action.