Crawley Town must learn from mistakes at Accrington as relegation battle goes to final day
Crawley Town Head Coach Colin Kazim-Richards stressed his side need to learn from their mistakes after a 3-3 draw at Accrington Stanley meant their relegation battle will go to the final day.
The Reds came from behind on three separate occasions to earn an important point, but they slipped to 22nd in League Two and are now only above the bottom-two on goal difference.
Harrogate Town closed the gap to the Reds with a 2-0 win at Walsall while Newport County scored in the 18th minute of stoppage-time to claim a dramatic 3-2 win against Oldham Athletic and move up to 21st.
Those results mean that the Reds’ last-day clash with Salford City at the Broadfield Stadium is more important than ever in their battle for EFL survival.
On the draw at the Wham Stadium, Kazim-Richards told club media: “It's quite difficult with words, but I believe that you have to learn from your mistakes yourself, and when you hear them talking there, it’s been a running occurrence, a running theme of making the same kind of mistakes.
“And it was three goals from three of the same mistakes – simple, basic things of not letting your man run off you, getting onto your man and marking in the box.
“In terms of giving them credit and showing fight and showing desire and coming back with three goals, scoring three goals away - normally, do you come away with three points when you score three goals away?
“Maybe, but not when you keep making the same mistakes. It doesn't happen. Not just in football, but in life. [You] can't make the same mistakes and expect a different outcome.”
He added: “You're catching me literally right as I've just come back out. It's like 10 minutes after we've finished, so I'm disappointed - I am.
“It is another point, and we do have it in our own hands - we do now. That could have been avoided today. That book could have been closed, but it's not.
“So, come the coach journey home, then we'll look at it and we'll go again. It is one more round, but I'll be honest with you - it was it was a real tough one today.”
The Reds boss’ interview was interrupted and the club later released a statement via X condemning racial abuse that was directed towards Kazim-Richards ‘from a minority of Accrington Stanley supporters.’
Saturday’s hosts also released a statement reiterating that ‘instances of discriminatory or prejudiced behaviour will not be tolerated by Accrington Stanley.’ Both clubs confirmed that they would be making no further comment at the time.
Crawley need to match or better Harrogate’s result against Barnet and avoid an eight-goal-swing in goal difference with bottom-club Barrow to stay up on the final day of the season.
Tranmere Rovers and Newport, both on 40 points, are also still at risk of the drop if they fail to win their games against Grimsby Town and Barrow respectively.