I joined the 67 Crawley Town fans at Mansfield Town and it was great to see the action from a different perspective

It looked to be another tough game for the Reds, but a gritty performance finished with a tap in from substitute Ade Adeyemo sealed the victory, with a sense of relief coming from the away support after a tough few weeks.

I was lucky enough to be in the crowd with 67 other passionate Crawley fans who have made the long trip just north of Nottingham to watch their team.

Despite all the negativity in recent times around the club, the fans were full in voice when the game started, singing together and nervously watching on as the Reds came close to scoring through Will Swan.

The first half saw a lot of Mansfield action by the away end, with the Reds fans getting a good view of Crawley’s defensive unit staying firm and restricting the Stags from creating anything clear-cut.

Fortunately, Crawley attacked our end in the second half, and were the much dominant team, winning the ball back on the half way line to the joy of the away fans, but a sense of frustration was in the air, with the Reds fans knowing that the Stags will need to be punished soon otherwise they could fall behind themselves.

Then, late in the second half Adeyemo was there to follow up of a parried shot by the Mansfield keeper and tapped in what turned out to be the winner, and this is where I saw how close the bond between players/club and the fans are.

The players rushed over to celebrate in front of their travelling supporters, with a few eagerly jumping out of their seats to embrace their heroes on the night.

There was definitely a lot of relief coming out from many of the fans, but these celebrations would be put on hold until the final whistle blew, with Mansfield desperate not to leave their place with nothing, to what would be extremely disappointing to the over 6,700 fans who watched on.

It was tough to see the final few minutes, with it mostly being played around Crawley’s penalty box the opposite side of the stadium, just about seeing Charlie Barker making a world class clearance off the line before the full-time whistle blew.

Relief, joy, happiness were all emotions coming from the away supporters, who had been treated with a fantastic performance from their club.

The fans went down right to the edge of the pitch, waiting excitedly for their players to come and celebrate with them.

A big part of the result tonight was from the travelling away fans; who even on a cold Tuesday night would make the trip up north to watch their team.

Not just Crawley fans, but friends/family of some of the players were in the crowd too, with Ben Radcliffe and new signing Matthew Cox coming over to embrace some of the travelling support, with Adeyemo also getting a well-deserved cheer from the Reds fans.

It was a very cool experience to travel to a Crawley away day to see from a different perspective, with a special mention to the fans who not only made the trip but supported the team until the very end.

Normally when watching these games in the press box or on tv, I do not get the same fan experience of watching the game.

The main difference last night was that I got to be with the fans, and get to see their view of the game, almost through their eyes, and feel the good and bad emotions coming from the fans next to me.

Overall, this is the main difference from watching football as a journalist or a fan, and something that I hope to do more of in the future.