Crawley Town lost 4-3 to Peterborough United in a thrilling game at the Broadfield Stadium. Reds boss Scott Lindsey believes his side deserved to win the game. Here is his full post match interview
Category
🥇
SportsTranscript
00:00Scott, thank you for joining us. I don't really know how to start or where to start in a crazy
00:05game that somehow ends in defeat for the Reds. Can I get your take on it first?
00:08Yeah, just really disappointed for the lads. I thought we were outstanding tonight. I thought
00:13we were worthy winners. Not even a draw would have been a reflection for me. I thought we
00:20were the better team. I thought we created the better chances. We hit the bar at the
00:25post. Yeah, I'm just really disappointed for the lads. But what a game of football, eh?
00:31Great game to watch. Yeah, I thought we were outstanding. I really did. Football's a cool
00:40game. It can kick you in the teeth when things are positive and you're playing well. The last
00:47two performances and results and then we play that well and we get back in the game a couple
00:53of times. I thought we would be the team that went on and won it. I thought they were the team
00:59that looked like they were time-wasting and trying to see the game through. We were the team that
01:03were front foot and trying to win it. And then they go down the other end and we give a penalty
01:10away. So yeah, disappointed.
01:12Yeah, I suppose it's even more gut-wrenching when we've come from behind twice to sort of
01:16restore that deficit and then somehow you end up on the wrong end of it. So I can imagine the
01:21feeling in the changing room is pretty low right now.
01:23Yeah, it is but it isn't because I think that the players know that sometimes football can kick
01:27you in the teeth when you don't deserve it. So we didn't deserve to lose that game tonight. In fact,
01:31I don't even believe we deserved to draw it. I thought we deserved to win that game. And
01:35sometimes that happens in football. We have to understand that and take it and move on and on
01:41to the next one. And whilst we know that these games are vital for our survival in this division,
01:46we understand that. We can't do any more than we've done tonight. Listen, they're a good side.
01:53They're very, very lively on the break. They caught us napping a few times. But I thought
01:59we were very, very good tonight. I thought that we controlled the game. Like I say,
02:02I thought we created loads of chances. I thought we defended the box brilliantly well. There was
02:08an action at the end there where we blocked and stopped and it looked like it was going to go in
02:11and we headed off the line and got our bodies on the line. The players would give me everything.
02:16I just feel for them because they don't deserve, first of all, they don't deserve to be in the
02:20bottom four for a start. I think it's clear to see that from the last three games. But they are,
02:27or we are, should I say. And a performance like that deserves far much more than we got.
02:34But that's football. Listen, I think everybody in the stadium and watched at home could clearly
02:41see that the players put every single ounce of effort on the line to win that game tonight.
02:46I don't think we were helped by the officials. I thought we had a clear handball in the first
02:49half. Everybody apart from the man that's the important one sees it so clear it's untrue.
02:56And then he gives them a penalty, which was a penalty by the way. We've got to do better
03:01with that. We have 90 seconds to go or 30 seconds to go. We've got to do better. We've
03:05got to stay on our feet. We don't. We dive in and it's an easy one for him to give.
03:11But yeah, listen, it is what it is. We move on. I've said to the players here Thursday,
03:17come in with a smile on your face, perform like that, you should be happy.
03:21Whilst we're not happy about the result, but we're happy with the performance and
03:26I'm big on performances. Results will be a byproduct of that. If you perform like that,
03:33a hundred times, 99 you win it. And tonight we got the one where we didn't. So it got away from us.
03:38Yeah, the players, as you say, did give absolutely everything. I think a few of them
03:42definitely at the end were almost flat on their face because of how much they run,
03:45but I suppose that's the nature of how your teams play. You want everybody chasing.
03:49At the end of the day, that's how we made our third goal, chasing every sort of loose ball.
03:53It's just going to happen. And obviously they had a few subs that came on and gave us a few
03:56challenges towards the end. But as I say, I suppose that's just the nature of what you
03:59expect from your teams. No, I expect my team to run harder than any opposition. So given that,
04:04for me, I thought we pressed amazingly well tonight. I thought we pressed really well.
04:08We won a lot of balls high up the pitch, not just on the goal, but a lot of actions where we won
04:13a lot of possession from pressing really well. I think that what we didn't quite get right in
04:18the first half was we pressed really well at the top of the pitch. But once the ball went south of
04:23our press, we didn't thicken up quick enough. We didn't run south quick enough for me. We didn't
04:28get back into our shape quick enough, which is why we got stung on a few occasions. But
04:33I don't think that's an effort thing. I think that's just probably a know-how thing,
04:37which I need to do more work, obviously. But listen, I can't complain about the players'
04:42effort. They were just outstanding. They deserved so much more. But usually when you're kind of in
04:48the bottom end of the league, usually things go against you and it certainly went against us
04:55tonight. We should have had a handball in the first half, should have been a handball,
04:58should have been a penalty. It's a free kick. We kick it in the box. He heads it onto his hand and
05:06controls it with his hand in the air. I don't understand that. It's not handball. Handball's
05:13handball. It's his hands in the air. And then obviously we get a sucker punch. Was it 97
05:22minutes, where there was only six minutes put up? 97th minute is the penalty. That confuses me as
05:30well. But there you go. We take it and we move on. The gap to Bristol remains six points.
05:36Burton gained a few tonight. How do you read that? Because I suppose in all the emotion from
05:41that game, you probably haven't had time to check the table. I don't care about what the others do.
05:46We've just got to focus on us. If we win all our games, we'll be fine. And we might not even have
05:51to win all of them. So we'll be fine. And if we play like that, we'll be okay. And if we're not,
05:57we're not. I'm not going to pile so much pressure on the players that they can't perform. That's
06:03not what I want. I want them just to go out and enjoy these last games and that's it. When I come
06:07in, we were nine games to go. We're 12 points behind. It's almost like an impossible mountain
06:12to climb. But let's enjoy it and let's try and climb it. That's it. We may do it, we may not.
06:20I can't ask the players to do any more than they've done tonight. I really can't.
06:25It was just a great advert for Ligue 1 football, wasn't it, tonight?
06:28Yeah, I think so. Anyone that was watching that tonight, obviously in the stadium or at home,
06:34would have enjoyed that. Some good goals from both teams. Some great play from both teams.
06:41And I'm really proud of how we played tonight. I'm really proud of the team,
06:44the effort, the way we passed the ball. I thought we were outstanding. I really did.
06:52And yeah, we're just really disappointed to come away with nothing.
06:56Yeah. And you said on Saturday that you got in the fur-rush not scoring on Saturday,
07:00but you got his goal tonight.
07:02No, I'm so pleased because he's been brilliant over the two games before tonight. He deserved
07:10the goal and, of course, the way he got his goal was through his work ethic and that's what he
07:14does. He presses really well. We kind of knew that we could steal a lot of balls high up the
07:20pitch because of the way that they played. And I'm so pleased. I thought it was a tight angle,
07:26the way he put it in the net. It was similar to how he actually had his goal at Cambridge,
07:29if you remember, in terms of the angle. But he managed to get it in. Great goal.
07:34And I thought we'd go on and win it. I really did. I think most people in the ground would
07:39think that as well. Most people probably watching at home on the telly would probably think that as
07:42well. They were the team that were trying to slow things down a little bit. We wasn't. We were
07:48front foot. We wanted to try and win that game tonight, obviously. And then you get done kind
07:53of in the last seconds like we did. But I don't want there to be any negativity, certainly with
07:59my group, with the staff, with the fans or anybody. It is what it is. The players did everything
08:06tonight. Everything. And want to be.
08:11Talking about negativity in that, obviously most of the season, when I've turned up to the ground,
08:15talking to the fans and that, it's all about what's been happening off the pitch, as they
08:19haven't talked about. Since you've come in, all they've talked to me about is what's happening
08:23on the pitch. That's a great thing, isn't it?
08:26Of course it is. Yes, that's what it's all about. It's all about what goes on on the pitch.
08:30You know, I need to focus so hard on the training pitch and so hard on that group of players in
08:39there. I don't concern myself about anything around the place or what's been said about this
08:45and that's not right. But I'm not bothered because probably that's where I went wrong in my last job,
08:50was concern myself with too much in the background where I should have really
08:54focused more so on the pitch. So I've learned from that and I'm really focused,
08:59like almost to the point where nothing else is getting in the way other than the football pitch
09:04and the players. That's all I care about and if the results are right,
09:07everything else will fall in place anyway. So that's what I have to do.
09:11And just very quickly, there was a great video that morning you joined where you hugged Jeremy
09:15Kelly and introduced him as the best player in the world. That assist for the first goal
09:19was something else, wasn't it?
09:20Oh wow. It just comes in the pitch so cleanly with the ball. We talk about him receiving it and
09:28he's got that kind of swivel hips where he looks like he's going to take it inside the pitch because
09:33he does it a lot but then he takes it on the outside and then gets fouled if you remember the
09:37action. But yeah, he cut it on for the goal. It was just a delightful 180. He came inside the
09:42pitch and just lifted it. What a great ball but a great run from Junior as well by the way.
09:48So yeah, listen, Jesse is just a different class. I love working with him
09:54and I'm pleased to see him score as well tonight. He scored the second, was it?
09:58Yeah.
09:59Yeah, so yeah, great to see him get on the score sheet himself because he doesn't score a lot,
10:03Jeremy. He needs to add more goals to his game because he's a very, very good player
10:08but it's good to see him score tonight.
10:09Yeah and there's nothing to discourage anything about going to Stevenage on Saturday, isn't there?
10:15We should turn up with so much confidence after that performance tonight. I know the score line
10:20or the result, should I say, is negative. Sometimes in football you play so well and
10:26don't get what you deserve and that's happened tonight in my opinion. Thank you.