'Unacceptable' - Crawley Town boss says his side were a 'shadow of what we have been' in Leyton Orient defeat

Watch more of our videos on ShotsTV.com 
and on Freeview 262 or Freely 565
Visit Shots! now
Crawley Town manager Rob Elliot believes his side were a ‘shadow’ of themselves in their 3-0 defeat against Leyton Orient.

Charlie Kelman opened the scoring for the hosts in the 33rd minute when he fired the ball into the net from inside the six-yard box.

Five minutes into the second half Leyton Orient doubled their lead through Dan Agyei who’s curled effort found the top corner following a fast break and Omar Beckles tapped in the third from a corner that was not cleared.

Hide Ad
Hide Ad

Despite a spirited first half, Crawley could not find the same levels after the interval which cost them three valuable points.

Crawley Town manager Rob Elliot. (Photo by Pete Norton/Getty Images)Crawley Town manager Rob Elliot. (Photo by Pete Norton/Getty Images)
Crawley Town manager Rob Elliot. (Photo by Pete Norton/Getty Images)

Speaking after the game, Elliot said: “I thought we were poor and didn't deserve anything from the game; we were a shadow of what we've been the last two-three months. I thought we started okay and had a few chances to hurt them but then they stepped onto us and we weren't able to deal with it and they deserved the win.”

After good performances in the last few weeks, Reds had an off-day and were outplayed by Leyton Orient for large parts of the game and this is something that Elliot does not want to see again.

“That's a level that's unacceptable, going forward, I don't want to see that again. With the way I set the team I could have helped the lads a little bit more but with the limited options we weren't able to get the complete balance of the team right but I still expect us to perform better and we have enough in terms of our quality to do that.

Hide Ad
Hide Ad

“I think we have to hold ourselves in higher regard and to play at this level, if you want to compete you've got to be able to go Saturday-Tuesday-Monday-Thursday and compete against very good teams.

“Leyton Orient are powerful, big and strong. They ran over us and that was the disappointing thing because our running and our physicality has been getting better. It was a very disappointing day and I can only apologize that we weren't able to get a better performance.”

Crawley will continue their busy festive period on Sunday 29th December when they face Exeter City before games against Charlton and Barnsley in the new year and Elliot will be hoping his side can re-find their form.

“I want to see a reaction. I want to see us get back to where we're at because we know that was unacceptable but I'm also not going to overly criticize these players too much because they've given absolutely everything and as long as they put it right and we get a performance that we want that is all we can do now.

Hide Ad
Hide Ad

“We know we've got enough to hurt teams but we’ve just got to make sure that we're able to consistently do it and our mentality is that we attack every single game in the right way and we play with our own identity.”

Follow us
©National World Publishing Ltd. All rights reserved.Cookie SettingsTerms and ConditionsPrivacy notice