'Reaction' - Crawley Town boss Scott Lindsey lays out what he wants from his players against Fleetwood Town

After last week’s “embarrassing, disgusting performance” against Boreham Wood last weekend, Lindsey knows this is a good opportunity to get that reaction.

“I think the biggest thing is obviously looking for a positive reaction, a positive response from what we saw last weekend,” he said. “Obviously, we all know that wasn’t acceptable. So, the reaction that I’m looking for within the players is a real positive one and it’s an opportunity for us to do that.”

Fleetwood Town currently sit in 10th position in the league, and are unbeaten in the last three league games, and Lindsey knows that it will be a tough game.

Lindsey said: “Pete Wild is a manager that I’ve come across many times, and they’re always tough games. Pete’s a good manager. He’s very organised. His teams are always very organised. They’re a real handful at the top of the pitch. Two big forwards, if a crisp packet blew across the pitch, they’d chase it. They’re really game, and they’re up for a fight. In the middle of the pitch, they’re up for the fight as well. So, we know it’s going to be tough.

“We do feel that defensively, they’ve let a lot of goals in. Defensively, they’re capable of turning chances into goals. So, we’ve just got to make sure we create and hopefully we score some goals. But we know it’s going to be tough because we know what this side’s going to bring, and we know it’s going to be a tough game.

“But, like I say, I think certainly with last Saturday’s game and how we performed, I’m looking for us to react and us to play well. Forget what the opposition bring. If we do what we do, and we do it really well, and we work hard, and we get our numbers up, then we’ll be fine.

“But we’ve got to do it. I don’t really care what the opposition bring. We’ve got to make sure that we do our jobs really, really well. If we do that, we’ll be okay.”

Lindsey had some real honest conversations after the poor performance last week, and he got the reaction he wanted in training. He said: “After there’s been some honest conversations, you always get a good reaction. But that doesn’t matter because I’ve seen that all season where we train well. It’s about what we do on Saturday. That’s the biggest thing for me. I don’t really care how the reaction’s been in training. We’re at the stage now where I actually hope that we don’t train well and play well.

“I want to see some real character in the team on Saturday, some real energy. I think that’s important and some real character. We are where we are and only us can get us out of that mess that we’re in. So, we’ve got to make sure that we show a fighting spirit, character and will, want and determination to beat the team that are trying to beat us.

“And that’s what we’ve got to do. On Saturday, we did not see that. I didn’t see one moment of that. That’s not acceptable. My teams don’t play like that. My teams play with character. My teams play with an element of aggression and an element of determination to win a game. At the moment, we’re not seeing enough of that. And that’s what I’m looking for on Saturday.”