Crawley Town boss Scott Lindsey following Sutton United win

SussexWorld

Crawley Town beat Sutton United 3-0 to go joint top of League Two. Here is Scott Lindsey's full post match press conference

Transcript

00:00 Yeah, you can kick off.

00:01 How did it go?

00:02 My thoughts were really, really accomplished performance.

00:06 Obviously a good result, some good goals.

00:09 You know, they ask a lot of questions of you Sutton.

00:11 I know they're down the bottom of the table, but there were moments in the first half where they put us under immense pressure.

00:22 We didn't manage the game that well in them moments, but we learned from that

00:27 and I thought we were outstanding in the second half.

00:30 So yeah, really pleased with the performance and obviously with the result.

00:34 A clean sheet, is that one of the more pleasing elements of the game for you?

00:38 Yeah, we mentioned that before the game today.

00:40 We said, look, you know, in order for us to get where we want to get to,

00:44 you probably need to keep around 20 clean sheets a season.

00:46 That's only our second one, which in my opinion is not enough.

00:50 You know, we want to improve on that.

00:54 Since the start of the season against Bradford, that was our last one.

00:58 That was our 10th game today.

00:59 So, you know, we need to do better at that.

01:01 So really pleased with that aspect of the game.

01:04 And Corey, when he was called upon today, didn't have loads of it,

01:07 but when he was called upon, he pulled off a couple of great saves.

01:09 Yeah, he was very good today, Corey.

01:11 I've kind of done a lot of work with him this week and spoke to him about certain things

01:16 and I thought he was outstanding today.

01:18 Yeah, and the two of the goals, well all three goals, really good team.

01:22 Were they really satisfying to watch as they saw the plan coming together?

01:25 They were brilliant to watch.

01:26 You know, the first goal was outstanding down the right side.

01:28 You know, Gladwin doing a one-two with Darcy and great ball into the box

01:34 and an unbelievable finish from Adam Campbell.

01:37 Second goal, again, you know, good work from the whole team.

01:40 You know, a real good, fast-flowing attack.

01:44 So yeah, you know, all three goals were great goals.

01:47 Yeah, and I mean, we've talked about Liam Kelly a lot this year already,

01:50 but what else can you say about him?

01:52 He was outstanding against Liverpool.

01:53 He can play anywhere on the pitch as well, you know.

01:55 I don't know if you noticed, but I bumped him a little bit higher towards the end of the game

01:58 when Aaron Henry come on, bumped him a little bit higher

02:01 because I felt that I wanted to go and score more goals.

02:03 You know, I wanted to be greedy today and I wanted to score more goals

02:05 and I know Adam's got goals in his locker when he has played higher up the pitch.

02:10 So yeah, yeah, he's brilliant.

02:12 He's a good player, you know.

02:13 Listen, he's one of the best in the division, in my opinion.

02:16 I've said it before in previous interviews, I think he's outstanding.

02:19 Yeah, and because of other results today, you're now joint top.

02:22 I mean, it's quite incredible, isn't it, really, considering where we were last season?

02:26 It is, but we're kind of mindful that we have to keep being professional about how we do our work.

02:33 We have to be mindful that it is just a start.

02:37 It's 10 games in.

02:38 We've got a long way to go.

02:39 But yeah, we're obviously delighted about how we've gone about our business so far.

02:44 Yeah, excellent.

02:48 Scott, it's 10 games now.

02:50 You've made it clear it's just a start, but it really couldn't have gone any better, really.

02:58 I know you're keeping your feet on the ground and that's the message to the players.

03:02 But when you think about last season, it's just so incredible that you had the worst season and now the best start.

03:10 Yeah.

03:11 It's just amazing.

03:12 Thank you.

03:13 Yeah, it is.

03:14 But it goes down to hard work on the training ground, hard work behind the scenes to get the right players in,

03:23 which the owners have done that brilliantly, with myself, obviously.

03:27 We've kind of got rid of a lot of experienced players that I felt were…

03:37 We needed a freshness.

03:39 I think that was clear to see that when we made these changes, whilst a lot of people kind of got disgruntled about that,

03:46 we kind of felt that we knew what we were doing.

03:49 And the way that not just myself, but my coaching staff as well have coached the team and coached the individuals

03:58 and how we debrief games, how we debrief set-piece meetings, how we do everything, the work that we put in.

04:07 It's a lot of work and you only get to where we've got to by working hard.

04:12 As my dad used to say, you only get out of football what you're prepared to put into it.

04:15 And we've put a lot of effort in, so long may that continue.

04:20 Anything Scott?

04:22 Scott, you want to go?

04:23 Me?

04:24 Yeah.

04:25 Okay.

04:26 Scott, congratulations on today's win.

04:28 I just want to harp back to a point that's already been made, because we're 10 games into the season now

04:32 and Crawley sit joint top of the table and that's got to be beyond any of your wildest expectations when the season kicked off.

04:39 Not really, no.

04:41 I think that we felt that we could do what we've done.

04:44 We backed ourselves to be really competitive this season.

04:49 We quietly went about our pre-season.

04:53 We signed what we signed and got rid of players that we felt probably needed to move on.

05:00 And we coached the team to play in a certain way.

05:04 A lot of detail has gone into that, a lot of hard work.

05:08 We expect good results because of the work that we put in.

05:13 Whilst probably a lot of people would be scratching their head thinking, 'How the hell are we where we are?'

05:23 I think behind, or certainly in the four walls of the dressing room, we felt that we could do what we've done.

05:30 Managers have said to me in the past, Scott, that it's round about the 10 game mark that you start to have a little look at the table

05:35 because before then it's all very tight and it's still very tight at the moment.

05:39 If you had to grade this Crawley side on their opening 10 games, if you had to give it a little bit of a half-term report as a school report,

05:45 what grade would you give Crawley for the moment?

05:47 Well, A, because they've been brilliant. We've been good attacking-wise, we've scored a lot of goals.

05:55 I think that's 20 goals now in the last six games, is that right?

05:58 Yeah.

05:59 20 goals in six games, so we'll always score goals in my opinion.

06:03 This group of players will always score goals.

06:05 We do need to be stingier at the back, we've mentioned that in previous interviews.

06:08 Obviously we've got a clean sheet today, so I'm really pleased.

06:11 Against a side that really put us under pressure, by the way, and fantastic on set pieces.

06:15 Corners, throw-ins, free-kicks, they put it right on you.

06:18 So the fact that we have come away from the game today unscathed in terms of goals against is really, really pleasing.

06:27 But no, I'm proud of the players. I'm really proud of the players.

06:30 They've bought into what I want fully and really committed to the cause, so yeah, really happy.

06:37 You're unbeaten in all competitions throughout September

06:40 and it's the first time in five and a half years that the side has won four consecutive league games,

06:46 with two tough ones to come in the coming week.

06:48 But that sort of thing must absolutely delight you.

06:51 And within the commentary, we're running out of superlatives of trying to describe the way that the side are playing at the present time.

06:58 Thank you. It's really nice for you to say that and it's very nice to hear that.

07:05 But we do realise that football's got a nasty habit of kicking you in the teeth when you're not expecting it.

07:11 So we've just got to make sure that we remain really professional and really hard-working throughout our work that we do.

07:18 And every day we turn up and we're never going to get complacent. I won't allow it.

07:23 At the end of August, when we stood on the pitch at Swindon and you just lost 6-0,

07:28 we keep saying in the commentary, it's incredible resilience and an incredible turnaround

07:33 to now have gone the whole of September unbeaten.

07:35 Because I think a lot of fans were then sort of thinking, "Oh, cruelly started well, first couple of games were alright,

07:40 and then suddenly they've fallen away."

07:41 The turnaround and, like I say, the resilience, the commitment, the professionalism, the performances,

07:46 everything about what the players are doing, it's just incredible.

07:49 Yeah, I think that that probably comes with, you know, we've got a young side and the football that we're playing,

07:56 every now and then it can go horribly wrong. It can.

07:59 You know, you saw Brighton today, one of the best footballing teams in the country,

08:04 go up to Aston Villa and get absolutely popped and lose a game, was it 6-1?

08:09 6-1.

08:10 So it happens when you're a footballing side, a young side.

08:13 You know, I saw Southampton a couple of times get beat by big numbers, but they're a footballing side.

08:18 When it goes wrong, it can go horribly wrong.

08:21 Just so happens it was my old club, which was disappointing for me, you know.

08:26 But we never, you know, after the back end of coming out of the Swindon game,

08:32 we never felt worried at any point.

08:34 We just felt that we need to wipe our mouth with it and move on and that's what we've done.

08:39 And on to Doncaster on Tuesday night, you've got that win chalked up now, on the road this season.

08:45 You will surely go to Doncaster with huge amounts of confidence and a huge amount of morale within the side.

08:51 For sure, yeah.

08:52 You know, we might have to freshen things up a little bit in terms of the squad.

08:58 But you saw today the players who've come on had a real impact.

09:01 You know, they showed a real desire and a freshness about them.

09:05 And I think when they do make changes, it doesn't weaken the side in any shape or form.

09:09 So we may have to do that.

09:11 I'll have to look at it.

09:12 I'll have to sit with the medical team and the coaching staff

09:15 and really strategically look at how the team looks for what's going to be a tough game against Doncaster on Tuesday.

09:23 Thank you.

09:24 Thank you.

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