Crawley Town 2, Cambridge United 1: Midfield duo's thoughts on victory

Crawley fell behind after just three minutes when Joe Ironside headed in the opener, but replied with half-time on the horizon when Max Watters scored his fifth league goal in as many games.

Tom Nichols scored the winner for the Reds, heading home Sam Matthews’ corner, as the Reds finished with 10 men when Jake Hesketh was dismissed for his tackle on Kyle Knoyle.

Hessenthaler was pleased with how his teammates reacted after the early setback: “I thought we reacted really well. In the first-half I thought we deserved our goal, and in the second-half we’ve gone and got another and we saw it out really well”.

Jack Powell partnered Hessenthaler in midfield, following his man of the match performance against Tranmere, and he was happy with another Crawley win at home: “I’m pleased with it. Nice to get a run in the side and contribute with what I know I can do, and obviously we’re winning games as well, so happy faces everywhere and long may it continue."

Hessenthaler believes he and Powell are forming a good partnership in midfield, but is aware of the competition for places in the team: “We’ve known each other for quite a long time and we played against each other a lot at youth level.

"It’s good to get a partnership going and it’s also good to keep winning and keep rolling them out”.

Powell: “When he came in we said to each other there will be a moment when we do get a chance to play together, there’s strong competition in the squad midfield-wise so whoever you get picked with, you’ve got to give your all but it’s enjoyable, we seem to balance each other out well and I like to think that we can both do both side of the game.

“You can never really judge a game after two minutes when somebody scores but it was a great cross from them and a good goal really.

"I would’ve liked to get out to the ball a bit quicker, but after that we actually battered them I thought. We passed the ball well, created some good chances and it was just about being composed in the final third, and we managed to do that, get back on level terms and I think it’s important that we went into half-time level.”

Hessenthaler: “I think we deserved it, we started the second-half really well, we had a lot of possession in good areas and I was pleased that Nichols rose well and headed it in. After that, with going down to ten men, we grinded it out in the end and we deserved it."

Powell also believes the Reds can’t get carried away with their league position, after moving up to 7th: “Still early days really, it’s a bit clichéd but we take each game as it comes and see where we are around Christmas time and see if we can kick on, but it’s good to beat teams above you and around you, that shows we’ve got quality and togetherness”.