Mark Yates gives his reaction to Reds’ draw with Wycombe

Crawley Town manager Mark Yates praised the effort his players put in to earn a tremendous point against opponents who before the game had won three and drawn one in their opening four matches.
Cambridge V Crawley 22/8/15 (Pic by Jon Rigby) SUS-150822-204321008Cambridge V Crawley 22/8/15 (Pic by Jon Rigby) SUS-150822-204321008
Cambridge V Crawley 22/8/15 (Pic by Jon Rigby) SUS-150822-204321008

Yates admitted his side showed a lack of finishing but was pleased with his defence for combining to keep a clean sheet.

He said: “We worked our socks off. It was a good game of football for 0-0.

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“They’re used to winning and it was important that we showed them respect but also didn’t fear them.

“Putting the ball inthe back of the net proved to be a bit elusive. A couple of wasteful finishes and a couple of good saves from their keeper.

“I have no problem with the effort the players put in. They were outstanding in that respect.

“Our aim today was to get three points and to capitalise on a good win last week against Cambridge.”

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Yates was pleased Crawley managed to attack a lot more than in their previous home draw gained against another side tipped to be title contenders, Portsmouth when they parked the bus and concentrated on defending.

He said: “Portsmouth hopefully was a one-off. For me that got us three points against Cambridge.

“The Portsmouth game was the fourth game in ten days. We’d had a bit of a breather since Cambridge.

“We couldn’t quite manage it but it wasn’t through a lack of effort. It was just putting the ball in the back of the net at the right time.

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“I thought there were one or two outstanding performances out there today.

“I thought Christian Scales was brilliant. I thought Jon Ashton, Sonny Bradley and Jimmy Smith when he got back to right back. We didn’t look like we were going to concede a goal.

“I thought we would go on and win the game. The belief was there from the players and the staff on the touchline.

“It just didn’t quite happen for us. We were going to be a work in progress, I’ve said that all along. I just think we’ll keep getting better.

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“We weren’t going to get carried away after last week. Every game in this league is competitive and is tough.

“We’ve proved we can match some of the best teams and we are not taking foot off, we are not going to take the next five games’ opposition any lighter than the first five.

“Hopefully we can grow as a team. We’ve got a two-week period now in the build up to Mansfield.

“The group has put in such a lot of effort over the first three or four weeks of the season and hopefully we can be better for that.”

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