New Crawley Town manager Kevin Betsy sees 'pleasing aspects' in Carlisle United defeat but admits the Reds 'need to improve'

The 44-year-old could not begin his Reds tenure with a win as Kristian Dennis’ fifth minute strike sealed victory for the Blues on the first weekend of the 2022-23 League Two season.

Despite the result, Betsy saw plenty of positives in Crawley’s performance. But the former Seychelles international challenged his charges to put in a better showing when Leyton Orient visit West Sussex next Saturday.

He said: “It’s the first game of the season, everyone’s excited, but I felt we didn’t start as well as we could have done.

“We did start to control the first two or three minutes. Then there was a ricochet in the box and the ball fell nicely for their player and they scored.

“It puts you on the backfoot in the opening minutes of the game, and it’s a tough place to come. There’s a really good crowd, and if you don’t start well the game can be a bit frantic.

“I think from 20 minutes on we really started to control the game and made inroads into the opponent’s half.

“In the second half we tweaked a couple of things, and our application out of possession was much better. We had the ascendency in the early stages of the second half.

“There were moments in the half where we nearly scored but, for us, there weren’t enough clear-cut chances in the second half.

“We have to be better in possession. The boys know that and we will be better next time.

"Overall, there were lots of pleasing aspects today, and also some areas that we need to improve on very quickly.”

The Reds have had a busy summer under new owners, WAGMI United. Of the 11 players signed during the off-season, eight made their debuts at Brunton Park.

New signings Ellery Balcombe, who was announced just an hour before kick-off, Dion Conroy, Tobi Omole, Travis Johnson, James Balagizi and Dom Telford were all named in Betsy’s starting XI.

Fellow new boys Corey Addai and Brighton & Hove Albion loanee Teddy Jenks made their Crawley bows in the second half.

But while Betsy was generally pleased with the ‘levels’ exhibited by his new acquisitions, he singled out two of last season’s stalwarts for praise.

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He continued: “The players that were here last season did really well in the game and that was pleasing to see.

“Hess [Jake Hessethaler] came on and did really well in midfield, George [Francomb] was solid at the back.

“There were a lot of good performances from the debutants. Travis Johnson was excellent today, which was really pleasing, James Balagizi had another really good performance in midfield.

“There were some really pleasing levels. Ellery in goal was outstanding in the first half. That’s why we’ve bought him. He’s top level but unfortunately he’s picked up an injury.

“Balcombe picked up a slight niggle. If he had stayed on it would have made it [the injury] worse and done a lot of damage. We took the precaution to take him off in that moment.”

A hardy band of 166 Reds supporters – a total that would have been higher if not for train cancellations – made the almost 350 mile journey to cheer on Betsy’s boys in Cumbria.

And the new Crawley boss could not have been more proud of the Reds that made the long trip to Brunton Park.

He said: “It’s amazing. We’re just disappointed that we weren’t able to give them a goal or a win.

“We really thankful to the supporters for making the journey and hopefully they saw some good football in moments.”

Crawley will hope to rack up their first three points of the season at home to Leyton Orient next weekend.

The O’s made a dream start to the new campaign, beating Grimsby Town 2-0 at home thanks to second half goals from George Moncur and Thomas James.

The Reds have, so far, sold over 1,000 season tickets and a packed crowd is expected at Broadfield Stadium for Crawley’s first home game of 2022-23.

Looking ahead to next weekend’s fixture, Betsy added: “It will be nice to return home when we play Orient on Saturday. They’re a good side. They’re tipped for promotion, so it’ll be a tough game.

“But we’re looking forward to playing in front of our own supporters, having some energy in the stadium, and putting on a really good performance.”