'A little bit emotional' - Crawley Town boss' strong reaction to winning at former club Charlton Athletic

The Reds went ahead in the first half through their first shot, with Tola Showunmi’s wonder strike from the edge of the area being his first league goal for Crawley.

Charlton got back into it through Daniel Kanu, but Scottish midfielder Max Anderson latched onto the rebound from Jeremy Kelly’s shot to put Crawley back ahead and on the way to a massive three points for Elliot’s team.

On the game, he said: “It was brilliant. I mean, it's always going to be tough because of the way Charlton are. They're direct and they're physical and they put the ball in the box from everywhere.

“Switched off once, conceded a really poor goal, but the reaction to come back from that, that was my proudest thing today. I think maybe before we might have thought it, but we didn’t and we stood up to it and we went on to win the game.

“I think that's fair play to Louis [Storey]. He was on the side, and he wanted to be really proactive with the substitutions and I think that helped us win the game. Rushy [Hepburn-Murphy] and Ty [John-Jules] and Roles and Brad [Ibrahim] coming on, they helped to stem the flow, and they also gave us that attacking option.

“I was a little bit emotional at 2-1 because it wasn't just because we went 2-1 up. It was because I saw a team that wanted to fight for each other, fight for the club, and that was probably my proudest moments, seeing, just for that two, three minutes.”

Elliot was extremely happy with all his players after they got through a very tough game, with special mentions to the two goal scorers.

On the players performances, he said: “I'll go through everyone, but I can't, but they were just all exceptional. I think Max is an attacking player and he's probably played deeper, but I think he's got a great instinct. He receives the ball so well in tight areas and I really like to see him higher up the pitch, but he's doing a job for us at the moment.

“From Tollers [Showunmi], brilliance, individual. I mean, we'll remember that for a long time, and then obviously the build-up to the goal, it's not just the finish, but it's the actual whole goal from start to finish, from what I can remember anyway, was just tremendous play.

“We have to have that bravery to play for the team, to be aggressive, it might go wrong and that's fine, but to come to The Valley, 10,000 plus people, ex-Premier League club, my home club, I know how important the football is to the fans here and how hard it is to come here and win.”

Despite a well-earned win last night and five games unbeaten in the league, Elliot still believes that his team can still improve, especially from an individual point of view with many players new to the league and culture of English football.

Elliot said: “100% and I think it's not just the team, it's the squad game.

“Like you mentioned there, lads who maybe, you know, Brad [Ibrahim] would be disappointed at the start, but he's come on and helped us win the game. Benji's [Tanimu] been in and out and he's adapting to English football, he's adapting to English life and he's such a great guy, and obviously Toles as well.

“When we come in, we had issues with scoring. We started scoring, then we had issues with conceding from set-pieces, and we're slowly fixing that, but we just need to make sure we keep doing what we're doing because it's working.

“Let's also realise there's some very, very good teams at the top of the table, which we have to play soon, so it's going to be a completely different battle and a completely different game, but you can only win the games you're in front of you. It's a great little run, it's something to be proud of and something to want to hold on to and not allow to get away from us.”

There were multiple times when boos were echoed around the stadium from the Addicks fans, with many of them aimed at former Southampton and Luton manager Nathan Jones at full time after another poor performance from his team.

On the other hand, Elliot saw this as a positive towards his own side, as he said: “I think obviously whatever's happening with Chorlton at the moment, the fans and the frustrations, it's not really our business or my business.

“I think you come to places like this, big crowds, big clubs and you can get the crowd frustrated, you're doing something right, and I think that's what we did well. I think we need to make sure that when we are in these occasions again: the Birmingham’s, the Bolton’s, the Blackpool’s, all the big clubs. I think it's a learning curve for us to understand how to win at places like this.”

It wasn’t another clean sheet for the Reds tonight, but still a very good night for the defence who prevented Charlton to very little in front of goal.

Elliot was happy of the defensive performance last night, as he said: “Tremendous to a man and Jojo [Wollacott] as well, organising in start positions and his decisions with his kicking, when to pass, when to go longer.

“We got to put our bodies on the line, we won headers, and we put our foot in. I think we could have probably been a bit more physical at times and I think that will come with belief. We're physically better than we realise.”

Crawley Town will face off against Stevenage at Broadfield Stadium this Saturday, with the Reds looking to extend their unbeaten league run to six games.