Crawley Town boss says Brighton and Hove Albion loanee 'affects the game anywhere'
Crawley Town Rob Elliot praised Kamari Doyle for playing in an unnatural position after the 1-1 draw against Wigan.
Wigan took the lead in the 39th minute thanks to a Dale Taylor header, but were pegged back three minutes later from a wonder strike from defender Charlie Barker.
Both teams threatened in the second half, but Wigan looked the more likely to grab a winner, but the Reds held onto an important point in their hopes of survival.
One player that has helped Crawley have this upturn in form is Doyle, who was signed with the idea of playing him through the middle, and when he has played there, he has been fantastic.
But he has also had to fill in at wing-back as well, with him starting there last night, and he played well there as he grabbed an assist and had a few shots on goal, but he failed to make the impact he would have made if in the middle.
Despite this, Elliot liked the idea of Doyle coming in from wide, but admitted he prefers him in the middle of the pitch.
Elliot said: “I think Kami affects the game anywhere. I thought he was good wide. I don't think we got him the service that we probably wanted to, and I like the idea of him wide coming inside.
“I like Kami in the middle of the pitch. When he comes into the middle of the pitch, I think things happen.
“It just sort of always comes to personnel, really. Kami's so adaptable, he's both-footed, he's energetic, he's young, he's exciting. He's someone that you want in areas where he can affect the game, where we feel that he can affect the game. We did feel in the wide areas he'd affect it.”
Another Crawley player who has had to play in an unnatural wing-back position is Will Swan, who is a striker by trade but in recent weeks has filled in at the deeper role, and done a solid job.
Despite this, he did not start last night, with Elliot having said: “[Will] Swanny's been exceptional out there, to be honest with you, but obviously he's struggling with a couple of things. He's only limited, unfortunately, similar with June. “So we're just having to balance numbers and squads and players.”