Scott Lindsey hails Crawley character after late drama

Posted Wednesday, October 25, 2023 by PA

Scott Lindsey lauded the character of his Crawley side after they dramatically salvaged a point to avoid a fourth successive defeat at Walsall.

Danny Johnson opened the scoring for the hosts on 88 minutes before Danilo Orsi headed in a 94th-minute equaliser.

Lindsey said: “Great character. The lads are disappointed with the second-half performance, had we have continued on the same vein of how we did in the first half I think we could have gone on and won the game but we didn’t.

“A game of two halves really, I felt that we were really good first half, I thought we were outstanding, really good possession, some very good football being played.

“We had a couple of chances, [Klaidi] Lolos had a good chance at the near post, keeper makes a good save and we had a few bits and pieces flying around their box and across their box.

“Second half changed, we weren’t as good. We struggled with the way they pressed us, we couldn’t make the right decision whether to play round, through or over their press.

“We came under a lot of pressure, they put a lot of balls in our box and Corey [Addai] was outstanding with some unbelievable saves and the goal, the shot hits the post and lands straight to their man who can’t really miss.

“We did succumb to a lot of pressure but we stuck to it and we showed character, a great goal from us at the end. There was another chance just before with Travis [Johnson], great header and the keeper makes an unbelievable save.”

A disappointed Mat Sadler claimed it felt like two points dropped after Walsall’s second-half onslaught left them with just a point.

Sadler explained: “It feels like two points dropped, mostly because we felt we had earned the win and it hurts.

“I thought we were brilliant second half. We ran them into the ground and there was a spell when I looked around at their players and they were gone.

“We sucked the life out of them and a fantastic performance, especially second half. The frustration is we didn’t see out that last little bit which is a gut-wrencher.

“I thought we should have had a free-kick on the halfway line immediately before the goal – and it definitely was having seen it back – which is frustrating.

“We just have to keep positive, keep moving forward and get some of the players back we’ve got missing through injury.

“The law of averages says if we keep doing the right things we will end up with the right results, and we’ve put in some good performances in recent weeks.

“We are emotional on the back of not seeing the game out but over the next 24 hours I will look back at the game and be extremely pleased with most of it.”