'It's going to be David v Goliath most games...but let's embrace it' says Crawley Town boss after Huddersfield Town draw

Reds took the lead twice against the Terrier through Rushian Hepburn-Murphy and Max Anderson but the visitors fought back twice and in the end Elliot’s men dug in to secure a point.

Elliot and his side took plaudits for their performance with some saying it was their best since the former Newcastle keeper took over.

And the 38 year old was proud of his side’s work against the Terriers. “The main emotion is pride, I am generally really proud of the group,” he said.

" I think that’s a question on my mind before they came in, can they defend and fight like that and considering everything that’s gone against us like the injuries and everything and they just showed their character overall and I said to them don’t be disappointed by the fact we’re hanging on against a team that last year was two leagues apart.

"Four, five years ago they were in the Premier League and so it’s an incredible culture, incredible character the lads are building and I’m so proud of them. Yes, we’ll sit there and dissect the game but we’re really pleased and everyone to a man was fantastic in and out. We’re not getting ahead of ourselves or too high or too low but we’re creating the standards you have to give and that was another minimum standard we raised the bar a bit today.”

“They (Huddersfield) are a top team, statistically they should be near the top. They’re coming together again and Michael Duff is a top manager and a good person and I think to back up Burton with another positive result, we just keep ticking them off. We don’t look too far ahead and that’s it. I was pleased with the fact we had a gameplan to start the game with and we didn’t execute as well as we could early on but they were pressing man for man so we put our quickest three players up top of the pitch and Harry [Forster], Rushian and [Will] Swan and then Rushian got the first goal.

"Will Swan does a lot for the team and maybe sometimes he doesn’t get the opportunities because he does so much work and I think he’s touch for the goal was fantastic. When we did lose energy the lads who came on did well, Max Anderson was unbelievable, as a character and in terms of his performance to me he just goes about his business and just gets on with it and he was exceptional today.”

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And Elliot was pleased with how his side adapted to different situations and made Huddersfield do different things.

He said: “I’m really pleased with the team’s structure and I think the adaption to this level I’m seeing is what you’ve found from the earlier performances against the teams is that they’re really good structurally so we have to have three, four dimensions to our game so teams can’t always press, they can’t always sit off and I think we did that really well today. I’m really pleased with the lads and their determination and spirit. We have to be our best to take our opportunities to see where we can hurt teams and today it felt like in the wide areas there was an opportunity to hurt them. There was an unbelievable energy today and Huddersfield were brilliant they’re so aggressive man for man, more crosses into the box than any other team so just an incredible performance.

“The lads who came on really did give us energy, towards the end it was all men to the deck and in a weird way it’s not how I like my team to play. I want to be on the front foot and I want to be possession based. What I’m learning, what the lads are learning very quickly is that confidence brings points, it brings results and now we’ve gone three games unbeaten, only lost one in five so that helps the lads to keep going. Some of these lads are carrying knocks and they’re putting their bodies on the line like Will Swan’s calf, Toby Mullarkey’s back and the fact they’re willing to do that and the performances they put in just shows and adds to all the belief and all the other stuff, we know we can hurt teams, we know we can score goals which is exactly what we want to do.

“Playing against Huddersfield at home, it’s a great point but I think the way we went about it given the injuries was excellent.”

More than 4,700 were at the game and both sets of fans produced a brilliant atmosphere – and Elliot appreciated the reaction from them. “The reception at the end with the fans clapping all the lads was great to see,” he said: “The fans just want players that can replicate what the fans can control, the lads can fight for the badge and that’s what they did and the reception at the end was brilliant. The reception Tuesday night made me emotional with 200, 300 people travelling up on a Tuesday night up in Burton, not the most attractive game in the world but then afterwards they’re singing the clubs name and that’s what these lads have done and that’s what they need to continue to do and that’s make me proud and no matter what happens going forward if we can be a club that’s together and proud and we can attacking this league knowing that we’re David v Goliath pretty much every week. Let’s just embrace it and enjoy the ride.”

Crawley travel to Wycombe on Tuesday in the EFL Trophy before facing Bristol Rovers away next Saturday afternoon.