Crawley Town boss says criticism as been 'a bit harsh' and 'fair' as struggles continue

It was almost a sell out for the evening game which was rearranged to Tuesday after it was postponed on New Year's Day.

It would be another disappointing night for the Reds fans, with Thierry Small having scored the only goal of the game in the first half.

Crawley pushed for an equaliser in the second half, but only ended with one shot on target from nine attempts.

Elliot has had his fair share of criticism in his time at Crawley, but has described it as fair, as he said: “It's massive. You're always going to come in for criticism. I think there's times it's been a bit harsh, and times it's been fair. But when you see a group of players that give absolutely everything, that's all you can rely on.”

Elliot joined the club back in October after Scott Lindsey departed for MK Dons, and said that he has not had the chance in that period to connect properly with the fans.

He said: “I've not really had the opportunity to get that sort of connection with the fans, because I think they had a big period where he was away from home. I haven't had a huge chance to have that engagement. Obviously, like I said, I'll make loads of mistakes, and I’m open enough to man up to that.

“I'll always keep backing these players and looking at the things that they can do, and making sure we keep concentrating on that.”

Crawley have not had much luck with injuries this season, with the Reds only having six players on the bench these last few weeks and many players struggling with injury and fatigue.

Despite these problems, Elliot asked the fans to carry on their support for the team through the rough periods that they have been through.

“I think there's been a huge adaptation to the squad,” he said. “We've probably got younger and less experienced, but I think there's been better quality, and the players have given absolutely everything. There's measurables, and there's things that aren't measurable.

“I think when you see the fans' reaction in the last couple of home games, they can see that, especially when you go to Lincoln, down to the bare bones. It's a disappointing result because of a bad 18 minutes.

“I think when young men are given absolutely everything for the cause, I think that's the most important thing for a fan, that you want to see people that care and want to wear the shirt. These players definitely do.”