Crawley Town’s Callum Preston happy to make debut

Crawley Town goalkeeper Callum Preston was delighted to make his debut against Southend last night.
Crawley Town V Southend - Southend score thier second goal against Crawley Town (Pic by Joe Rigby) SUS-150710-192918002Crawley Town V Southend - Southend score thier second goal against Crawley Town (Pic by Joe Rigby) SUS-150710-192918002
Crawley Town V Southend - Southend score thier second goal against Crawley Town (Pic by Joe Rigby) SUS-150710-192918002

The 19-year-old former Birmingham City Academy player made a good impression to Reds fans in pre-season games.

But since Freddie Woodman joined the club on loan from Newcastle United, Preston has had to watch every game from the bench.

Hide Ad
Hide Ad

He finally got his chance to impress due to Woodman being away on international duty for England Under-19s.

Burgess Hill v Crawley Town. Callum Preston. Pic Steve Robards SR1516627 SUS-150716-171759001Burgess Hill v Crawley Town. Callum Preston. Pic Steve Robards SR1516627 SUS-150716-171759001
Burgess Hill v Crawley Town. Callum Preston. Pic Steve Robards SR1516627 SUS-150716-171759001

The former Wales Under-19s player was not to blame for any of Southend’s goals, one of which took a nasty deflection and the others were unstoppable finishes.

Preston said: “It was nice to get back on the pitch to be fair. I enjoyed a good pre-season and have been chomping at the bit to play.

“I knew the situation as soon as I came here so it’s great to get 90 minutes under my belt ready for Saturday.”

Hide Ad
Hide Ad

Preston has kept himself fit and ready to play despite the lack of opportunity created through Crawley not having a reserve team.

Crawley Town V Southend - (Pic by Joe Rigby) SUS-150710-192842002Crawley Town V Southend - (Pic by Joe Rigby) SUS-150710-192842002
Crawley Town V Southend - (Pic by Joe Rigby) SUS-150710-192842002

Preston said: “All you can do is to train hard, make sure I’m sharp and keep my standards high so when I am needed, it doesn’t matter when it is, that I am mentally ready to play.

“Overall I thought I did well although I thought my kicking dropped off a bit in the second half, maybe because it is so long since I’d played before.

“We just need to cut out silly mistakes out I think we’ll be OK this season.

Hide Ad
Hide Ad

“I think we have enough on the pitch and enough in the squad to stay in this division.

“There’s competition there in every position which is what a team needs and I think the Gaffer is building a squad and you can see the foundations there now and hopefully we can now kick on in the season.

“You only get experience by playing games. It’s a young team but there are enough good, senior players to keep us in the division.

“Players like Ash (Jon Ashton) and Sonny (Bradley), Walts (Simon Walton) who have been around and have enough experience and they can help you through the game.”

Hide Ad
Hide Ad

Don’t miss out on all the latest breaking news where you live.

Here are four ways you can be sure you’ll be amongst the first to know what’s going on.

1 Make this website your homepage

2 Like our Facebook page at facebook.com/pages/Sport-Sussex

3 Follow us on Twitter @SportSussex

4 Register with us by clicking on ‘sign in’ (top right corner). You can then receive our daily newsletter AND add your point of view to stories that you read here.

And do share with your family and friends - so they don’t miss out!