Defensive masterclass, sublime full backs and a triple threat - six things we learned from Crawley Town's win over Barrow

Ashley Nadesan’s early strike was enough to ensure Lewis Young’s unbeaten league run as interim boss continued. It was also the first clean sheet the Reds have kept since August.

Here are six things we learned from the victory.

Crawley’s defensive masterclass

Despite Crawley’s good run of form, they were not the favourites coming out of Saturday's game however, with a standout performance from the Crawley defence, Lewis Young looks set to have found his ideal back line that he has been struggling to find since his appointment as interim manager.Crawley were able to keep Barrow’s top goalscorer, Josh Gordon quiet all game which resulted in the striker being substituted off on the hour mark. As well as Crawley being well to deal with a very attacking Barrow for the entire second half which saw Crawley be put on the back foot.

Permanent job awaits for Lewis Young

After being appointed as interim manager only last month, Lewis Young has already found his feet as he earned his first clean sheet on Saturday which is their first since August.

Young has done a U-turn for Crawley as they struggled for points at the beginning of the season and since his appointment, are yet to lose in the league.

Despite this good run of form, Young has not started the same back line in back to back weeks however, after Saturday's result it looks as if Young has found his defence that includes: George Francomb, Joel Lynch, Ludwig, Francillette and Nick Tsaroulla.

It was not Barrow’s day

Barrow sat in 4th before Saturday’s fixture with Crawley and it was a game that they would have been expecting to gain three points from with ease however, Crawley did everything they could to make sure that did not happen. Whilst Crawley were very dominant in the first half, Barrow came out in the second half and rarely allowed Crawley to get out of their own half but were still unable to convert any of their 19 shots that they had.

Triple Threat

For the first time since the first day of the season, Dom Telford, Ashley Nadesan and Tom Nichols were all in the starting line up and it did the job for the Reds.

Nichols excelled at dropping back and creating space for the other forwards as well as delivering crosses into the box.

Ashley Nadesan held up play perfectly and was also making runs which is how he scored the goal that got his side the three points.

Dom Telford was exceptional at reading the play and getting into space as he assisted Nadesan’s goal.

See also Picture gallery of Crawley’s win over Barrow / Crawley Town 1, Barrow 0 FULL TIME: Early Nadesan seals another win for Lewis Young and Reds / Crawley Town player ratings

Man Of The Match performance from Joel Lynch

Joel Lynch was voted the Dominos Man Of The Match for Saturdays performance and it was fully deserved. The experienced defender put up a fantastic display as he helped his side earn their first clean sheet under Lewis Young.

Lynch did make a rare defensive error in the first half as he slipped with gave Barrow a golden opportunity to score from range however, Lynch made up for his mistake as after that he played out of his skin to ensure that every Barrow chance was dealt with accordingly and the home side seal the three points.

Sublime full backs

Crawley Town full backs George Francomb and Nick Tsaroulla were at the heart of the majority of chances that Crawley had on Saturday as their superb over the top passes found the attackers that created goal scoring opportunities. The constant delivery of over the top passes, especially from Francomb made Crawley have a lot of threatening challenges that looked as if goals were going to arrive for the home side.

Fan favourite Tsaroulla had an overall very strong performance as he did not let anyone past him for the whole 90 and was making great runs which allowed Crawley to get their first goal and the winner.