Crawley Town boss wants his side 'to play like their lives depend on it'

Crawley failed to comeback against relegation rivals Gillingham last weekend when Shaun Williams scored early in the second half for the Gills. Despite a strong first period, the Reds eventual loss has narrowed their lead on the drop zone by just one point.

“After the game I said we can’t capitulate after conceding,” said Lindsey, on Crawley’s failure to respond against Gillingham. “You do go 1-0 down, you can go 2-0 down, but you can still win the game.

“We’ve got to find that attitude of ‘Okay, we’ve conceded a goal, let’s go’. Because we were completely in charge of that game on Saturday, and I felt that, Gillingham didn’t beat us. We beat ourselves.”

Crawley won their first game since Lindsey appointment in their previous match against Salford City. Their 3-0 lead almost fell when the Ammies scored twice in the second half. From the future though, Lindsey wants more from his team.

“I almost want them to play like their lives depend on it,” added Lindsey. “I really want that, to go out there and put every ounce of effort into winning a game.

“It’s not easy. You’ve got 11 other men out there who are trying to stop you from doing that and it’s not easy. But what I can assure to the fans is that the players will be working extremely hard to make that happen.”

Since Lindsey’s appointment on January 11, the former Swindon Town boss has often stressed the importance of improving the ‘standards’ of Crawley.

After his first game in charge, he explained how his new side have a certain distance acceptable to cover on the pitch. In addition, new signing Ben Gladwin has been appointed as the clubs new captain, with plenty of experience throughout the English leagues.