Crawley boss: We're enjoying our football and have smiles on our faces

Crawley Town coach John Yems was pleased with his side’s performance against Tranmere Rovers as the Reds rode out 4-0 winners at the People’s Pension Stadium.
John Yems was delighted with the Reds' 4-0 beating of Tranmere /Picture: Steve RobardsJohn Yems was delighted with the Reds' 4-0 beating of Tranmere /Picture: Steve Robards
John Yems was delighted with the Reds' 4-0 beating of Tranmere /Picture: Steve Robards

Max Watters continued his impressive scoring record, as he scored his fourth Crawley league goal in as many games before Tom Nichols got himself back on the scoresheet, having not scored before since late September. Jordan Tunnicliffe’s header set Crawley on their way before half-time and Tyler Frost came off the bench to seal the deal for the Reds.

Yems was pleased with a productive night at the People’s Pension Stadium: “We deserved it, worked hard, 4-0 up and still chasing it. Plenty of positives and things to work on in the training ground that we’ve got to improve.

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"You just keep going, the boys deserved everything tonight. I don’t think there was any one man of the match or anything special, collectively as a team the players are playing with a smile on their face. They’re a good side, Tranmere. I know they’ve had their problems but they were in the league above us last year, they’ve come down, they’ve still kept a lot of their players, and we have a big game now to look forward to on Saturday.”

Tranmere were unable to recover from a first-half blitz from Crawley, which saw them go three goals up inside the first 25 minutes, and Yems believes things are starting to come together for the Reds: “It’s just the way we play, I’ve said all along about trying to keep your own form, as a group now we just enjoy playing football. We possibly could’ve had a few more.”

Yems tried a strike partnership of Watters and Nichols for the game, with both players getting on the scoresheet, and the Crawley coach praised the pair’s performance: “I’ve known Tom since he was about 12 at Exeter and he gets through so much work, and every time he goes into a tackle you think ‘how’s he come out of that?’ because he’s as tough as old boots. Max is learning the game as you can see, I’m frustrated with him because I don’t think he realises if he works hard how good he could possibly be.”

Sam Ashford and Tyler Frost also returned to the bench and Yems is happy with the healthy competition there is for a place in the team: “It’s a squad, and the lads now know if they come on they’ve got to make an impact otherwise they won’t be on the bench next week. It’s then down to the boys that aren’t on the bench to make sure they get on the bench to get in the team. They’ve got to earn the shirt, and once they have the shirt make sure to hold on to it.”

Crawley are in action this Saturday as they welcome second-placed Cambridge United to the People’s Pension Stadium.