Scott Lindsey hails Crawley’s togetherness after victory at Tranmere

Posted Sunday, March 24, 2024 by PA

Scott Lindsey feels there is a real togetherness in his Crawley squad after they moved into the play-off places in Sky Bet League Two with a 3-1 win over Tranmere at Prenton Park.

The Reds were in front in the second minute when Jeremy Kelly steered the ball home from 10 yards from the first real attack of the game.

The visitors doubled their lead in the 10th minute when Jay Williams reacted quickest to force the ball over the line after Tranmere failed to clear from a corner.

Rovers did reduce the arrears in the 21st minute when Luke Norris connected with a Rob Apter cross to flick the ball home and give the home fans hope.

Nigel Adkins’ side began the second half brightly, with Apter twice having chances to equalise, while referee Stephen Parkinson waved away strong appeals for penalties on two occasions as Tranmere threw everything at their opponents.

But with 11 minutes remaining Danilo Orsi fired home his 18th goal of the season to make the game safe for Crawley, who are now unbeaten in their last four games.

Lindsey said: “I’m really pleased with that performance and I think we played really well as a team.

“My players were outstanding and I could feel it in the hotel this morning (Saturday) that there is a real togetherness and belief that we can win games at home or away.

“We scored two early goals and perhaps we sat back a little bit after the second goal and invited a little bit of pressure on ourselves but we spoke at half-time and made sure we got a little higher up the pitch.

“We were a little more aggressive with our starting positions in the second half and I felt it was a really comprehensive performance from everyone in the team.

“I’m delighted that our fans have gone back down the road with all three points and we’re pleased to be where we are in the table but there are still eight games left and there’s a long way to go and we’ll keep our feet on the ground.”

Tranmere boss Adkins said: “It was a hard one to take as we started really poorly having started as good as anyone since November.

“The two goals we gave away were both from set pieces with a long-range shot coming from a long throw and the second one coming from a corner to put us 2-0 down after 10 minutes.

“But great credit to the players who responded really well in challenging conditions and we got ourselves back into the game against a good possession-based side.

“We did get back into the game with a good goal from Luke Norris and at 2-1 it’s game back on again.

“We started the second half well and had good chances but for me a critical moment in the game is that we should have had two penalties and those were two key moments that didn’t go our way.”