Game management, more physicality and a much-needed win: Talking points from Crawley Town's win at Oldham
Kevin Blackwell claimed his first win as Crawley manager as the Reds were victorious against nine man Oldham bringing home all three points for just their second league win of the season.
Crawley battled against an Oldham side that played with nine men for the best part of an hour as referee David Rock reached for his back pocket twice in the first half.
The Reds capitalised early into the second half before seeing out the game to take all three points of fellow League Two strugglers for the first time since the second game of the season and close the gap to those in front - here are four talking points from the 0-1 win.
1. Game management
There have been a lot of questions about a lack of experience in this Crawley side this season and that resulting in a mismanagement of important moments in games, which has seen the Reds drop many points so far this season.
To some extent yesterday’s game put some of those doubts to bed despite it being against a nine man Oldham side. For a side that have won just one game all season the fact that Crawley were able to see out the game is much greater of an achievement in context of the season rather than just solely looking at this game.
2. No Halloween frights for Crawley
It can be much harder than most people expect to face a team that is reduced to nine men because naturally they are going to sit in a low block, soak up pressure and aim to counter and score from set pieces.
The Reds weren’t able to put the game to bed but came away with the three points albeit a narrow 0-1 win and at times it felt as though Crawley were the ones that had nine men and were holding on.
3. Much needed three points
In the context of the season this could be a massive three points for Crawley and certainly a platform to build whether you consider the performance or not. It was vitally important that they closed the gap to those in front of them sooner rather than later.
Their victory at Oldham makes it just their second win in the league all season and with the majority of results going Crawley’s way they have been able to close the gap to three points and also have one even two games in hand on some teams.
4. More physicality
One notable element that was evident Crawley were particularly lacking in was a more bodily presence. The Reds came up against a very physical side in Oldham with Blackwell emphasising that in his post-match interview saying that he only had Priestley Farquharson that matched the presence of the likes of Mike Fondop, Donervon Daniels and Manny Monthe.
Especially with Oldham down to nine they were always going to sit deep, therefore Crawley would have a lot more opportunity to put the ball into the box however with their strength and height more often than not they made first contact and were able to clear any danger.