Crawley Town boss says 'we can't let the negatives overshadow us' after 4-4 draw at Exeter City

It was so nearly three points as Reds gave up a 4-1 half-time lead to draw 4-4 at Exeter City on Sunday, which followed defeats to Birmingham City and Leyton Orient.

But over the three games we have seen the return of Dion Conroy to the pitch and Armando Quitirna, who scored against the Grecians, make his first start since October.

And Ellikot was delighted to have those players back in the fold. “We've missed Junior's quality in terms of being able to beat players, beat pressers,” he said.

"I thought Dion controlled the game really well and we worked on the patterns that we worked on, the pressers that we worked on, worked fantastically.

“We got goals from good play, we got goals from pressers and we got ourselves a fantastic opportunity but what we've got to look at the positive is that Dion's got through 90 minutes, tremendously well.

“Junior's come back fit, hopefully Ade's [Adeyemo] back for Charlton and Harry Forster back soon, so the squad depth will get stronger but we're going to need absolutely everyone within the squad.

"We just need to make sure that we get as many points as we can over the next couple of games and hopefully in January we can look at ways to improve the squad and give ourselves the best chance because the first half of the season is always a learning and understanding this level.”

Charlton on New Year’s Day will mark the halfway point of the season for the Reds and Elliot believes they now have an understanding of what it takes to win games in this division.

"We've played everyone except Stevenage," he said. “But now we've had a look at the level, we have to understand what it takes every week and what we come up against so hopefully we can improve on that and take the learning and keep developing because these lads are giving absolutely everything for the club, they really are.

“They're top lads, they're top people and we just need to make sure that we keep going and keep improving because this is probably the first exposure to this level for 80% of our squad.

“There is going to be mistakes but there's going to be learning and you've got people like Charlie Barker who's just been absolutely outstanding in terms of everything he's given for the team.

“His 1v1 defending, everything he's done and we know that at 21-years-old, stepping up to this level, he's a huge positive along with Junior etc. So there's loads of positives, we just can't let the negatives overshadow us. We've got to keep focusing on what we do well and keep picking up points.”