‘There are some lads out there that I’d go to war with’ - Crawley Town manager praises players after heavy defeat
Crawley Town manager Rob Elliot has praised his team's attacking play but has criticised defending from set pieces after his team lost 5-3 to Shrewsbury Town.
John Marquis opened the scoring for the away team, before Will Swan grabbed his first Crawley goal after being in the right place to head in Armando Quitirna’s deflected shot into the net.
Into the second half and Crawley defender Josh Flint is sent off for a second booking, before the Reds took the lead through Quitirna, as he fired it past Toby Savin after he recieved the ball from a great cross by Harry Forster.
But the 11 men of Shrewsbury would soon be too much for the 10 of Crawley, as defender Toto Nsiala scored from a corner before Marquis won and scored a penalty to make it 2-3.
A George Lloyd brace all-but finished the game off for Crawley, but substitute Jeremy Kelly still had time to score a well taken free kick, which would only be a consolation for Elliot’s team on what he described as a frustrating day.
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On the game, he said: “The big talking point is the sending off, it changed the whole momentum of the game, and then it allows them to get the ball wide, get crosses into the box, get the corners and set pieces.
“Ultimately, I said to the lads individually responsibly from set pieces we need to get better, there’s no point in glazing over it.
“It’s been a problem we’ve identified since we came in, but I think it’s been a problem for most of the season and it’s not something that is a quick fix. It’s not a case of changing personnel or anything like that. It is jut understanding this is what teams rely on, and you’ve got to be able to deal with that because when we do deal with it, some of the play was excellent.
“Just need to stay consistent in terms of the attacking play, which was much better, but we need to clean up in terms of the individual battles, the second ball, the first contact squeezing the line. It's not going to be something that is better in a week, it will be a consistent progress.
“There are some lads out there that I’d go to war with, and they’ve gone to war with me already so lots of positives on that.”
Flint was sent off after he received two yellow cards in the space of three minutes, but his manager was still very supportive of him.
Elliot said: “I’m not going to criticise Flinty. He’s only young but ever since he’s been here, he has been superb. His attitude, his qualities, he’s a leader and is still young and developing.
“He will make mistakes in this scenario which has cost us as we have gone down to 10 and playing a team who get the ball wide and put it into the box and we lose the ability to stop them doing that.
One thing that Crawley have been lacking in recently has been goals, which was not a problem for them today which would be a huge positive for Elliot to take away from the game.
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He said: “Scoring goals are one of the hardest things to do but we seem to be doing that now, but it wasn’t just the fact that we scored three, it was the amount if chances we got.
“The first two goals we got from going down one way coming up the other and things we worked on in training. Junior (Quitirna) arriving late and keeping his width and getting bodies into the box. “
Swan scored his first league goal for the Reds today and has been praised by his manager for his performance.
He said: “I thought Swanny was excellent today. He worked hard for the team and did everything he could.
“We are really working on getting the ball in the box more in terms of the areas we want Swanny to be in; he well score in those areas, he is an instinctive striker.
“Swanny’s got that ability to be in the right areas at the right time, and I think that’s what we want to see - Will Swan scoring goals.”
Normally after scoring three goals, you would be off celebrating, but not in this case. This has led to the changing room being frustrated and ruing what could have been.
Elliot said: “I think the biggest word is frustration. I don't think it’s a lack of belief, maybe a lack of confidence which we said we never try and make an emotional decision.
“The lads are frustrated because I think they feel close to cracking it in terms of the level of the league which they have shown in moments in games, but this league is relentless. It is one of the toughest league ones it’s been for a long time, but what an opportunity for us to try and tackle it.
Another positive note for Elliot was the fans, who came up in their numbers to support the hosts today and even though they left disappointed, their support was not unheard.
Elliot said: “The pleasing thing for me, and it is what I’ve felt since I came into the club, I thought the fans at the end still stayed still clapped the lads and supported the lads and that is obviously for myself and the coaching team really appreciative.
“At the end of the game we were frustrated I get that, but I think when we reflect and think about the game up until the sending off, I think there were so many positives.
“Thank you everybody for the reception, obviously it didn't go the way we wanted but hopefully there is enough to see that we are on the right path despite how bumpy it got towards the end.”
Elliot and his team now have a week to prepare for the short trip up to Reading, with the Royals having won four out of five home games this season.
He said: “We have the first week we have had to work with the players. We’ve asked the players to go away to regroup, to decompress. A few of the lads are playing with knocks and some serious ones as well.
“There are lads out there who are putting their bodies on the line for us, so we need to make sure we rest them but then we come back into work and were ready to go.
“You’ve got two options in life: you can lay back and allow the situation to get control of you or you can take control of the situation but I think the one thing we will see is the work rate and the energy from the players and make sure whatever happens in any situation we give everything and we try to play it our way, we try to play good attacking football, we try to control the football and I want to see that bravery.
"I want the fans to come and know that yes, we need to get better at certain things, but they will enjoy watching us play.”