'We couldn’t get near them' – Crawley Town's Jake Hessenthaler's reacts to 2-0 defeat to Leyton Orient

Orient won thanks to goals from Theo Archibald and Aaron Drinan, after Crawley had a goal denied despite James Tilley’s effort appearing to cross the line.

Crawley midfielder Jake Hessenthaler reacted to the defeat, admitting that a poor start to the game cost them despite a much improved second half, he said:

“Obviously they came to play a shape and cause us problems and they did. They pulled us into different positions that probably we weren’t comfortable in, we couldn’t cope with it. That (first goal) was a straight ball that probably we need to deal with better but after that we couldn’t get to grips with it in the first half. We couldn’t get near them, and they were moving the ball around really well, it wasn’t enough.”

“We got a right rollocking at half time, which we thoroughly deserved because it wasn’t good enough.

“The standards that we set all year, that Lewis Young set, that we as players set, it wasn’t good enough first half and we knew that, so we wanted to come out second half and try and be high intensity, high press, and lock on. That’s what we did because if we sit off, we can’t do that as a team. We need to high press, that’s how we win games and I thought we done that very well second half.”

Hessenthaler also gave his thoughts on Crawley’s potential equaliser which was not given after the officials deemed the ball had not crossed the line.

“I think anyone in the stadium can see it but the only person that didn’t see it was obviously the linesman. It’s unfortunate, I think their goalkeeper said it was a yard over. We’ve looked back on the video, and you can see its very far over. I think the way it bounces and hits the crossbar again, it’s over for me. We counter attacked really well for that but it’s just unfortunate.”

The result now means that Crawley will have to beat already relegated Oldham on the final game of the season to better their points tally from last campaign. Hessenthaler insists it’s still important for the club to improve on last season, whilst thanking the fans for their support throughout the campaign.

“It matters massively, I think we need to improve every year and by beating our tally from last year that’s what it does. We want to go there, we might not be playing for anything and they’re (Oldham) down, but we still want to better our tally and keep on improving every year.”

“The fans have been fantastic every game. First half we weren’t good enough and they told us, and they should be able to tell us. Second half I think we had a right go, to show we can do it. They were fantastic against Sutton on Tuesday night and all year. We want to end on a high next week and better our points tally for them and for us and have a bit of pride about ourselves going into next season.”

Have you seen? 'I think everyone bar four people in the ground could see it was over the line but what can you do' - Crawley Town's Lewis Young after denied goal against Leyton Orient / 48 pictures of Crawley Town v Leyton Orient