It was a valiant fight, but on Tuesday night the inevitable happened – Crawley Town were relegated from League One after just one season in the third tier of English football.

There will be sadness and there will be negativity and anger about the season as a whole. The summer that saw the majority of the promotion-winning squad leave, Scott Lindsey going to MK Dons, leaving it too late to part ways with Rob Elliot – there are many things that have contributed to their downfall.

But no-one expected Crawley to do anything but struggle. They were facing eight former Premier League sides and some big and well-financed clubs. It was never going to be easy.

The fact they were still in with a chance – albeit a very faint chance – after the penultimate game was astonishing.

Crawley Town boss Scott Lindsey celebrates the win against Northampton Town at the Broadfield Stadium on Saturday | Picture: Natalie Mayhew/Butterfly Football

And it was mostly all down to one man – Scott Lindsey. Yes, the players on the pitch have got to the job, but Lindsey inspired, gave hope and brought a much-needed lift to a very flat Broadfield Stadium.

When he returned, Reds were down and out. They had nine games left and were 12 points from safety. Unachievable, most thought. Not Lindsey.

The 52-year-old tapped into something, brought hope and some of that football which gave Crawley fans the best season of their lives last year.

But it was the hope that killed us all. In his first interview back, Lindsey said they would have to win six or seven of the nine games. Four wins (five if they beat Shrewsbury on Saturday) later and a draw at champions Birmingham got them so close to taking it to the final day.

The defeat against Peterborough probably was the key result. It took the wind out of everyone in the manner it came and was followed by a performance at Stevenage where they ran out of steam after a tough three-game week.

And if Dylan Williams had not scored for Burton in injury-time against Cambridge on Saturday, we would be going to the final day for a bit of drama.

But it’s all ifs and buts. The table does not lie and Crawley Town will be in League Two next season.

With Lindsey in charge, a full summer ahead and, hopefully, more of a say on who comes and goes, Reds fans can have a huge amount of optimism going into next season.

He won 20 points in the 14 games he managed Reds this season – that’s an average of 1.42 points per game. Multiply 1.42 by 45 games, and Crawley would currently be 11th in League One.

If that does not give Reds fans hope for next season I don’t know what will. Crawley have always been underdogs going into a season under Lindsey, surely that will change next season and it will be interesting to see how he and others handle that expectation.

And if you look at the bigger picture, apart from Neil Smith, we haven’t really seen Lindsey add to his staff yet. With Paul Warne being appointed at MK Dons with former Reds boss Richie Barker as his assistant, could we see the return of Jamie Day? How would that work with Smith in post as Lindsey’s assistant? Would two assistants work? Who knows? As Steve Hale posted on X ‘let’s see what happens moving forward’.

Could Lindsey get the (dugout) band back together? The Reds fans would love to see it.

But for the time being, they can hang their hopes on two very important words. Scott Lindsey.

The two words - and the impressive statistic - that will give Crawley Town fans optimism following relegation from League One