Impressive individual performances, key minutes and York City line-up hint - Things we learned from Crawley Town's final pre-season friendly
Colin Kazim-Richards’ Crawley Town lost 0-1 in their final pre-season outing as the Reds look to take the positives out of tonight’s game into their game against York City on Monday evening.
Crawley wrapped up their pre-season this evening and Kazim-Richards continues to learn more about his side as do the fans so here were four talking points from the game.
Pemi Aderoju’s ability to hold up the ball
Peterborough loanee Pemi Aderoju faced a real physical test against Reading’s centre back pairing particularly Phil Duah who marked him throughout the game before Aderoju departed the field on the hour mark.
Despite the physical challenge Aderoju, stood strong and showed what he can offer at the top of the pitch in addition to his pace in behind.
The 22 year old striker evidenced a different part of the game, which gives Crawley boss Colin Kazim-Richards’ and the team a different dynamic to think about should they want to try something different mid way through the game.
Impressive individual performances
There were a lot of standout performances from different individuals with one of those being teenager Jude Robertson who played 70 minutes before being replaced.
He battled extremely well in the midfield alongside Justin Ferizaj and remained calm under pressure from the Reading press.
Trialist A in the first half, who played down the left-hand side brought a real attacking spark and willingness to take players on in addition to Stephen Duke-McKenna in the second half who brought a creative spark for Kazim-Richards’ side.
They were just a handful of inspiring individual displays from tonight’s game, which shows the quality of the players Crawley have at their disposal. For Crawley it’s now about bringing all the individual quality together and performing as a collective, which was more evident in the second 45.
Jay Williams gets his first minutes
A huge positive out of today’s game was Crawley captain Jay Williams getting his first minutes ahead of the new season following injury.
He is a pivotal figure in this Crawley side and in the heart of the midfield. This provides a big morale boost to have the 25 year old back out on the pitch.
Whether he will be fit enough to start York is unlikely but he could certainly feature on Monday night after clocking up 20 minutes this evening.
Hints towards starting lineup for York City
Like against Oxford United on Tuesday night the Crawley boss chose to go for a 60/30 minute ratio bringing on eight changes on the hour mark.
Those who played 60 minutes on Tuesday night played 30 minutes this evening and vice versa.
With Crawley playing in just three days time you would have thought Kazim-Richards would have looked to rest those he intended on starting Monday evening whilst still getting them minutes in the tank.
That is the case for those who played 30 minutes this evening, they were; Kellan Gordon, Charlie Barker, Priestley Farquharson, Malcolm Ebiowei, Louie Watson, Danilo Orsi, Jude Arthurs, and Ade Adeyemo.