Crawley Town boss says he senses 'excitement' from his players for Birmingham City trip

Birmingham, who were crowned champions last week despite not playing, are currently on a seven-game unbeaten streak and have not lost at home all season, so it’s a huge task for Reds, who lost the return fixture 1-0 just before Christmas. However, Lindsey said that he can’t wait to get there.

“I want us to really go there and do well,” he said. “I want us to do well against a good side and hopefully we’ll have enough to go and create some goal scoring opportunities and put the ball in the back of the net and hopefully stop them from doing so."

He added: “I can't wait to get there. And I think the players should feel that as well. And I think listening to the group and speaking to the group and debriefing the last game and kind of going through the training sessions this week, I think that there seems to be an excitement about this game from my players.”

The Reds boss is well aware of the position the team finds themselves in, six points from safety with four games to go.

He said: “We’re at a point now where we’ve got to throw everything at it. I think we’ve been at that point for a while, actually, and I think that the players have thrown everything at it. Unfortunately, we’ve not probably got the results that maybe we deserved.”

Lindsey added: “We’re playing against a very good side, but football has got that about it where anything can happen. So, we’re just going to go there and give it our best shot.”

Birmingham’s average attendance this season is over 26,000, which is the best in the league, and it should be a sell-out as the Blues fans will be celebrating winning the league. But Scott thinks that shouldn’t matter. He said: “I think that footballers should relish playing football every Saturday, no matter where we’re playing. They should relish performing and preparing to perform, which I’ve seen this week…just want to see a really good performance on Friday and hope that we can do ourselves proud against a really good side.”

As always, Reds fans will travel in their numbers to this game, with over 500 away tickets already sold and tickets available on the day, and Reds boss said: “I think they should come to these games and really enjoy it and get behind the lads like they do and have a good day out. And hopefully, we’ll celebrate at the end with the fans.”

After Good Friday, Reds host Exeter City at the Broadfield Stadium on Easter Monday.