Crawley Town boss says Birmingham City game was a 'night to be proud of' despite defeat

Jay Stansfield, who Birmingham bought for £15m in the summer, scored the winner in the 79th minute to leave Reds pointless – but for long periods there was nothing to separate the sides with Crawley defending well and Jojo Wollacott rarely in action.

But it was the spectatcle of the night that showcased what Crawley Town is all about, according to boss Rob Elliot.

There were more than 5,500 fans packed into the Broadfield Stadium, with nearly 1,500 away fans, and the Sky Sports cameras were there to capture the electric atmosphere.

The kick-off was delayed by 15 minutes after a medical emergency and Elliot was quick to praise those who helped the person involved, saying they were ‘the real heroes’.

But it was the whole evening Elliot was pleased with. ”I think it's a night to be proud of,” he said. "It's a night where we can look to see where we want to be you know where we're playing against these teams again.

"I think also it's going to be a brilliant learning curve for us as in going up against the top team and for me as well understanding what our limitations are but also what our positives are and making sure we you know reduce the limitations and keep working on the positives.

"I just want to say thank you to everyone, I think the club really did itself proud tonight with what happened at the beginning of the game.

"It's a great advert for Crawley and what we're trying to do and hopefully a few more keep coming because it's something the town should be really proud of in what we're achieving.

“Okay, we don't get the headlines or anything like that but we're going about our business really well and you know regardless of league position or anything like that I think you know we're on our own journey and we're on our journey to get to where we want to get to and that tonight should hold the players in good stead because I thought they were terrific to a man.”