Player Ratings - Crawley Away

[Piglet_Phoenix]

Full credit to the players for a performance where they had to show a huge amount of character, determination and fight as well as no little quality to come away with the points. Crawley were your typical dirty southern team really, kicking everything above the grass. The referee was extremely lenient towards their physical approach but still managed to penalise our players for every little touch we made on them. An horrific stamp on Devitt went unpunished (and he was given brutal treatment all game) as did a blatant elbow in Yates’ face, an agricultural challenge by Crawley’s number five deserved nothing less than a red card but as ever, their players swarmed all over the referee and he only gave a caution. You’re entitled to play the game however you like and Crawley were fighting for every blade of grass, along with the pace of their waspish forwards this translated into a difficult afternoon – but we matched their fight and showed moments of supreme quality to take the points.

It could have all been so different after a horror show from Gerrard cost us the opening goal. He was dreaming of pizza and after misjudging a header his lack of fitness was cruelly exposed. For the second goal we conceded there wasn’t too much the central defenders could have done as the Crawley player showed a real touch of quality to trap the ball and on the turn smash it into the top corner, we have to stop balls like this coming into the box. However when we upped our game, Crawley could not live with our superior technical quality. A flowing move led to a rasping volley from Nadesan which the Crawley keeper could only parry and Yates had shown great awareness to be on hand and good composure to calmly score. Yates forced the Crawley keeper into another great save low down to his left soon after and another flowing move and likely looking cross forced Crawley into a cynical foul on Hope to give us our penalty. Despite Crawley’s fluster and bluster the created very little other than scrambles and melees in and around our penalty area, their desperate shouts for penalties were born from the frustration they were not able to get behind our defence with any significance.

Our winning goal said everything about the afternoon, we showed great awareness to get the ball moving quickly from a free-kick and some slick passing gave Sowerby some space on the edge of the box, his precise finish, passing the ball in off the keeper’s right hand post was a moment fit to win any game. True technical quality winning out over kick and rush. It wasn’t really an afternoon best suited to Sowerby’s game, but when it mattered he had the composure and technique to influence the game. And subsequently Crawley only had their goalkeeper to thank for keeping them in the game, making two excellent saves from Devitt. Tellingly, Collin was never stretched to this extent all afternoon (despite their two goals).

For our manager, another great afternoon and his revised tactical approach (although severely tested) won the day. As Cribbens pointed out last week – we have more points this season than at the same stage last year. After 23 games last season we had 31 points, this season after 23 games we have 33 points – and we’re closer to the playoff positions as well as three positions better off. Also the quality of football we’ve shown in our last two games is head and shoulders above anything Curle’s teams produced in the last eigh**** months of his stay here. All this despite the much mooted “reduced budget” and some horrible negativity from some of our so called supporters who seem disappointed when we win and happy when we lose. The club is more important than the personalities of the people in the boardroom and although I understand and empathise with some of antipathy – these players and this manager deserve your support. As a city and as a fan base we get the football club we deserve, we’re entitled to nothing. If the players show this amount of passion, desire along with great technique and some excellent passing football they deserve your support, the people in the boardroom are irrelevant.

Manager rating for the season – 6/10.