Fleetwood Town v Crawley Town preview: 'We know what we've got to do' says Scott Lindsey
Manager Scott Lindsey said his Crawley Town side ‘know what we’ve got to do’ as their fight for League Two survival continues against Fleetwood Town on Saturday.
The Reds scored another late equaliser at the Broadfield Stadium on Tuesday night to earn a point against Barnet – a fifth draw in their last six games.
Danilo Orsi converted an 89th-minute penalty to make it 1-1, scoring his first goal in 13 games since returning to the club in January.
Over 280 miles of road lies between the Reds and the Highbury Stadium where they haven’t played since January 2015 - the Cods inflicted a 1-0 defeat in a League One encounter.
Lindsey said: “Long journey, but a game we're really focused on. We know what we've got to do. The lads have had a really good day today. We’ve debriefed Tuesday night's game today - lots of positives to look at and little bits where we can improve on as well, but it's a game that we're really focused on.
“We’ve just got to get on with it, get on with the journey up there and settle into the hotel and get ready for what’s going to be a big game for the football club.”
Lindsey has been pleased with his side’s response to the 2-0 defeat at Oldham Athletic last month – a team he labelled ‘probably the most in-form team in the division at the moment’.
He said: “I think there's been a feeling for a while anyway [that] staying in games is important. We feel as if our season has been - we've created a lot of chances early on in games, and then the longer the game goes on at 0-0 we then concede.
“It's been a pattern, but now we've got a group of players - it doesn't faze them. They don't get faze by that, which is important because you're not always going to get it your own way, not always going to go 1-0 up. To show character to come back from going 1-0 down is always a good thing.
“What I'd like to see is actually some of them early chances go in and see a game out rather than chasing a game. That would be nice to actually have that feeling as well, but I can't complain about the desire, the passion, the want, will and determination to try and win a game of football certainly in the last three games.”
Lindsey was keen to express how the quality of the Reds’ opponents has made life more difficult, noting multiple instances during the draw with Barnet.
He said: “I think sometimes you have to give the opposition a bit of credit. You saw the early chances – Jay hit the post and it ended up coming back to him, and then they're diving on the line. It's just heroic defending by the opposition sometimes, and you have to give that credit. But we've had so many chances this season where we've not tucked it away when probably the promotion winning season we did.
“There’s not really loads more as a coach you can do in those moments. We're coaching the team to get them into those positions, sometimes it’s over to the individual to put it in the net.”
He added: “Even towards the end of the game, Darcy has an unbelievable shot. I watched it back about 100 times today - it bounces just before the keeper makes an unbelievable save, and sometimes you just have to give the credit to the opposition.
“We're doing everything we can to knock the door down, sometimes it doesn't happen and it hasn't happened enough. That's where we've got to be realistic. We haven't done well enough, but I know that the team are really focused [and] desperate to get out of this position we're in.”
The Reds’ boss has claimed all season that his side should not be where they are in the table based on the underlying data of their performances.
He said: “I think our shots on target, our xG, all the attacking data - it's quite high up there. I saw something the other day that was put on Sky Sports in terms of attacking set pieces - we were up there. We were in the top four in the country, something like that for taking set pieces.
“We’re not rock bottom on the defensive data either. We're lower end, and we've definitely seen an upturn in that since (Jacob) Chapman’s come in, and Theo Vassell when he first came in and (Geraldo) Bajrami now. We've kept a lot more clean sheets this side of the season than we did at the start and we're defending better, definitely.
“From an attacking point of view, we're doing a lot right other than actually putting the ball in the net. I'm used to working with data guys and they always say: ‘Keep doing it, and it will turn it. It’s got too - data will always come out on top eventually.’ But it seems this season as if it hasn't turned, and we are still struggling to put the ball in the net, but [the] pleasing thing for me was [that] we kept going and we have kept going in these last two or three games.”