Crawley boss Mark Yates: ‘Subs made a massive difference’

Crawley Town boss Mark Yates reckoned his substitutions helped snatch a draw.
Crawley Town V Luton Town FA Cup (Pic by Jon & Joe Rigby) SUS-150711-171024008Crawley Town V Luton Town FA Cup (Pic by Jon & Joe Rigby) SUS-150711-171024008
Crawley Town V Luton Town FA Cup (Pic by Jon & Joe Rigby) SUS-150711-171024008

He brought on Luke Rooney, Shamir Fenelon and Lee Barnard and the team upped their game in the last 15 minutes.

This led to the Reds coming back to earn a draw against a side which has only lost once at home this season.

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Yates said: “It was deserved, it is always harsh on the home team to score in the 92nd minute.

“We kept plugging away, we kept going, we didn’t just let the game peter out.

“We showed a lot of spirit and we’ve come a long way since the start of the season, since the middle of September. So pleasing we are making progress.

“We are far the finished article but we are finding a way to play and we are working really hard at it.

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“I thought the substitutions played a massive part. I thought it was tactical genius from myself!

“We (me and Jimmy (Dack)) have been talking about using our substitutions a bit more and making them more a bit cute, keeping the tempo, about keeping the momentum going.

“The ones we made today made a difference. Barny (Lee Barnard) came on and probably did as well as he has done, Shamir (Fenelon) came on and looked a threat, Luke Rooney came on and scored a great goal.”

Meanwhile the Reds manager insists centre back Jon Ashton will recover from a bash to the face which caused him to come off just seven minutes into the second half.

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Yates said: “He’ll be fine - he took a whack and he has gone to have an X-ray with a suspected broken cheek bone. He’s a big, tough centre half and I’m surprised he’s even wanted to go!

“We’ve got a lot of spirit, a lot of fighters, some good players and if you put all that together we are not a bad team.

“We’ve limited a decent footballing side. We’ve limited them to three or four attempts on goal.”

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