'It’s only a matter of time' – Crawley Town Kevin Betsy confident a league win is coming ahead of Salford City clash

The Reds are unbeaten in their last three games having beaten Fulham and Portsmouth in cup competitions whilst drawing to Rochdale in the league. Despite being 18 places behind Salford, Crawley are in high hopes to grab their first league win of the campaign.

“It’s close,” said Crawley’s manager, Kevin Betsy on the obtaining those first three points. “The players are performing well, they’re improving, and we think it’s only a matter of time before we pick up some points and go on a run.”

On Tuesday, Crawley held League One side Portsmouth to a draw at full-time before defeating them through penalties. Looking ahead to Saturday, Betsy said, “There were so many aspects about the play on Tuesday that we want to develop further going into the next game.

“We learnt some really good lessons so it’s a great opportunity. We can now focus our bread and butter on league football and back up the last three or four games with a positive display against Salford.”

In 4th place, Salford have had a fantastic start to the season. After six games, they’ve won four, drawn one and lost one. Crawley have performed well defensively this season but, they could find it hard to deny the Ammies’ attack who’ve scored the second most goals in League Two’s 2022/23 season.

“I know their manager very well,” added Betsy. “Neil (Wood) is a fantastic person. We came up against each other a lot in the past when I was at Arsenal and himself at Manchester United.

“He’s doing a really good job (with Salford). They’ve changed this season and it’s great to see them play under their new style.

“It’s going to be a tough test for us to go away there but we’ll be ready, and we’ve got some hungry players who are full of confidence. Hopefully we’ll put on a good display.”

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Crawley’s starting eleven was forced into rotation on Tuesday due to the constant cycle of fixtures they’ve had over the last four weeks. Nevertheless, the victory showed there’s a lot of talent being left out the usual squad.

“We’ve got some real depth in the squad now,” said Betsy on the task of selection for Saturday. “These players are trying their best to pick themselves out for a starting position.

“But as they know, if they don’t start sometimes, it doesn’t mean anything. It might come down to tactics but when they do get the chance, they must perform for the club.

“It’s important at when we look at the bench at any time, we know the players can impact the game at any moment. We know we can only pick eleven but the whole squad needs to be ready to setup up whenever. That’s the beauty of having quality depth.”

The clubs busy summer transfer window flooded the dressing room with several new signings. With many of them out injured before the season could start, the side could be bolstered by their return some point soon.

Crawley will kick off against Salford tomorrow at 3pm in another vital game for the club. Whatever the result though, they’ll have a whole week to rest before hosting Gillingham at the Broadfield Stadium.

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