'Every day the standard is good' - Crawley Town keeper on competition at club after making league debut against Accrington Stanley

Crawley returned to winning ways as striker Danilo Orsi grabbed a brace and Will Wright found the net with a long-distance effort.

Ashby-Hammond was pleased with the result: “Obviously it’s great to win the game, that’s the aim of football. We’ve had a few results on the bounce where it’s not gone our way.

“The game was a bit back and forth, but I think we managed it well in the second half. We did what we needed to do to get the three points and to get the rhythm back.”

The young goalkeeper conceded within 90 seconds of his first League start and said “I play in goal so it’s my job to try and keep the ball out the goal. They didn’t take very long to score so that was quite disappointing.

“Letting a goal in at any point is annoying to me and to the team. So immediately is not ideal.”

Despite conceding early, the shot-stopper had a good performance, so the fact he hadn’t started in the league before yesterday is a testament to the strength in depth in this Crawley squad. “Every day the standard is good,” he said. “Corey’s been playing and I’ve been disappointed to not be playing.”

Luca believes this competition is good for both him and Addai – who is a Jamaica international. It clearly hasn’t impacted his relationship with him. He said: “Corey and I have got a great relationship. If you were to watch us, watch the sessions day in day out. There’s good banter, good standards pushing each other.

“Corey’s a great goalkeeper, the way he plays is very good. So, the standard in training is very good and that can only be good for both of us really.”

The game changed at half-time, and the balance swung in Crawley’s favour, and Ashby-Hammond credits this to the manager’s half time analysis.

“They came onto us well, in terms of their press. Our build up wasn’t what it could’ve been, he recognised that we could’ve gone a little bit longer and put pressure on their back line.

“He gives every player the confidence to do what they’re good at and to play football, everyone including the goalkeepers like to play football.”

He also mentioned that the team had the fans to thank for the result yesterday. “Towards the end we can really feel the Crawley fans get behind us,” he said: “I think that’s what drove us to go and get the other two goals.”