‘We need to keep our heads up’ – Vito Mannone reflects positively on Crawley Town’s heartbreaking last-minute defeat to Watford
Crawley Town goalkeeper Vito Mannone reflected very positively on an incredible defensive performance to keep Championship side Watford at bay until their 99th-minute winner on Saturday (August 8).
It took something special to get past Mannone this afternoon, with Marc Bola’s last-gasp screamer earning the Hornets a 1-0 win – and ending the Reds’ EFL Cup run in the first round.
The former Premier League goalkeeper said: “It was a great performance. We competed until the end, and that’s football for you especially in England.”
The Reds’ number one acknowledged the ‘shift’ his side put in against ‘a top Championship club’.
To BBC Radio Sussex, Mannone said: “I thought they didn’t want to go to penalties. I would back myself and the boys to do well. We practised a lot as well. We were ready for this situation, going into penalties.
“So, the way we fought, we are the lesser team [but] sometimes you surprise the bigger oppositions, and that was today. We were probably 30 seconds away from it.
"But we take it on the chin. We keep our heads up and we go from there. We need to start on Monday. We need to focus and regroup and go again.”
He added: “This is going to be a long season. You’re probably going to have these kinds of moments again. So, it is what it is. We all know the EFL League, how tough it is. Sometimes you win on the last ditch, and sometimes you lose.
"So, the consistency is the one thing that makes the difference. And from these moments, we need to take pride and go for consistency.”
Not only did the Reds defend brilliantly throughout the game, they also had their own opportunities to win the game, with Mannone saying they needed ‘to kill’ the opposition in certain moments.
The 38-year-old also gave an insight into what was said in the dressing post-game.
He said: “When we spoke inside the dressing room, the first thing that has been said is, ‘keep our heads up’.
“And it’s a tough one to take because we fought until the last centimetre and we are falling short for nothing.
“It’s somebody hitting an impossible shot with his weaker foot from the edge of the box – the last shot of the game – so as I said, it happens. We need to take all the positives and the negatives as well and try to learn from it and go from there like we do for every game.”
Head coach Colin Kazim-Richards gave a special mention to the travelling fans after Saturday’s game, and Mannone was full of praise for them.
The Italian has already endeared himself to the Reds supporters, and he could tell from the off that he’d have a ‘great relationship’ with them.
Mannone said: “I want to thank them because they came in numbers at York, which is far. They came in numbers today to support us, to stay with us until the last minute. And we can hear them very, very loudly.
"We want them to come in numbers for our league games, whenever they can and whenever it’s possible. Because it’s going to be a big, big hunt.
He added: “If we give our last drop of sweat, they’re going to see that and they’re going to fight for us. I hope it’s going to be a great relationship between us and them because they can be our extra men on the pitch.”
Crawley return to action on Saturday, August 15 for their first league game of the season against Crewe Alexandra at the Broadfield Stadium in which the Reds will look to build on today’s performance.