John Yems: Crawley beat 'old monsters' and 'were a match for anybody' in win over Barrow

John Yems was full of praise for his side after picking up three hard-earned points against relegation fighting Barrow.
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Kwesi Appiah scored the only goal of the game as the Reds won 1-0 at The People’s Pensions Stadium to move them into the top half. Recap all the action here.

It was a much-improved performance by the hosts who scored their goal in a 15-minute spell of dominance at the start of the second half, after struggling to find any rhythm in the first 45.

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With Yems’ having to deliver a galvanising team talk to bring his side up to scratch.

John Yems watches on as his Crawley side beat Phil Brown's Barrow. Photo: Cory PickfordJohn Yems watches on as his Crawley side beat Phil Brown's Barrow. Photo: Cory Pickford
John Yems watches on as his Crawley side beat Phil Brown's Barrow. Photo: Cory Pickford

He said: “I had to make people know what we have to do to win games of football and they responded to it.

“Credit to Barrow in the first half, the boys were telling me it was wind, so we can blame the wind, the snow, the ref but when we went out and played like that in the second half, we were a match for anybody.

“I think we could’ve had three or four looking back on it, it eased the pressure off but once again in the last minute it wasn’t bad for a team whose supposed to be unfit and give games away and all the old monsters that come back to haunt you, but once again we nick a 1-0 and on the balance of play we deserved it.”

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Crawley have had their well-documented injury problems all season and yet again saw a makeshift back five deployed as they kept a clean sheet today.

“It shows you the heart, the desire and the drive from whoever we play in there," Yems said.

"Quality sometimes goes out the window but give me ten players like George Francomb and Hessy and Payney and you won’t be far off winning things.

“Then you’ve got creative players like Kwesi, Nico and Nadders with his pace you’re always going to be a threat but it’s getting that balance and hopefully we might be able to play everybody again which makes my job double hard then.”

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One positive on the injury front for Yems was the return of Joel Lynch who came on for the last 20 minutes, helping his side keep hold of the three points.

Yems said: “It was good to see him back more than anything because Tony might be on his way back, Jordan as well and Lynchy today, all those people will get in people’s sides in this division and we haven’t had them.

“I know people look at me sometimes and think I’ve gone a bit doolally when they see the side, but we’ve got to do that. We work on it, we don’t just throw them in, it’s all coached.”

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