‘I knew I would score’ – McKirdy buoyant after his Crawley Town double at Newport
Harry McKirdy reflected on his crucial double for Crawley Town at Newport County and said: I knew I’d score.
He took tally to eight goals this season with a quick-fire double in two second half minutes that secured the Reds a 2-0 win and a vital three points in their quest for Football League survival.
McKirdy’s first goal came from a great long ball that found Ade Adeyemo on the right flank. Adeyemo ran to the byline and crossed the ball back to McKirdy, who fired home on 57 minutes to send the travelling fans delirious.
Two minutes later, a superb cross from Harry Forster from the left side of the area found McKirdy’s head as he made space behind a defender on 59 minutes.
McKirdy said “I don’t think anyone thought it was going to be pretty. If you turned up as a neutral, expecting a nice game of football, I think you picked the wrong venue. But it was always about one thing, and we’ve done it. So obviously, we’re happy.
"We had a meeting and the gaffer put on the board ‘what does today mean to you?’ And I have two things flashing in my mind. One, this football club can’t go down and two, I need a job next year. I’ve not got a job.
“And I knew I would score. I had a feeling and I just knew. I texted my mates at 1pm, I said it’s impossible I don’t score two today. I just knew I had that feeling, and I can’t fake feelings. I am what I am and I’m thankful for training and the way it’s been. I’ve managed to be in a good mindset, and I was ready for the game.”
McKirdy is grateful there is plenty to play for. He said: “I said last Saturday, and I said it to a few boys today (Friday), we want to be grateful in this situation, because there’s players that are going to the pitch at three o’clock and they’ve got nothing to play for. I grew up playing in my garden on my own, kicking a ball against the wall and into the goal. I didn’t dream of playing in a game that didn’t matter.
“So, we’re not at the end of the table we want to be in, but we had to be grateful that we had a game that matters. This will probably be remembered by Crawley fans, and luckily, I’ll be remembered for it because I scored two. That’s why I play football, that’s what I wanted.”
McKirdy’s goals came right in front of 523 travelling Reds fans, but that might not have been the case. He said “I said to Jay (Williams), normally it’s opposite. I said flip it and he was on about the wind. But I was like, no, second half, that’s the car park and that’s got the away fans. You want to be attacking the away end in the second half, and luckily that’s when the goals came.”
McKirdy added: “We had a job to do, and that was to win the football match. I think no one cared how we did it. You could see everyone throwing their body on the line. Everyone knows how important it is.
"We’re at the bottom end of the league too. It’s not pretty. Jobs are on the line for all of us, players, staff. So, that’s what it was and football is fine margins, and we were at the better end of the fine margins. So, we’re happy.”
McKirdy was asked about the mood in the camp after successive 2-0 wins. He said “Obviously, we’re all humans, and we all have jobs and we’re footballers and there’s different sides to it. At the end of the day, our performances, our mentality and our weakness got the gaffer the sack and it’s not nice.
“Obviously, many managers get the sack. I’ve been sacked plenty of times or released or whatever. That’s football. It’s fine margins, it’s about results, and I think there’s a lot of people that felt a lot of guilt.
“But the second the (new) gaffer gets announced, that’s gone. That’s football and we couldn’t just dwell on it. Obviously, he’s come in and we’ve got two clean sheets, won 2-0 twice and football changes so fast. That’s what we needed and we aren’t done yet.
“We’ve won a game of football, there’s five to go. We need to pick up as many points as possible and enjoy playing football. I think the last half an hour, I was trying to get the boys to try to enjoy it because we’ve not been 2-0 up for a while. But, obviously, there’s more important things to do.
“It’s been a massive week, another big one Monday and then there’s four to go. We just need to pick up as many points as possible and stay in the league, and then build for next season.”