Opinion: A plan to get even more out of Crawley hotshot

Whilst I was largely in tune with the views of Gary Smith and Mick Payne, I was left with the niggling feeling the Reds should have achieved more.

Against Leyton Orient the result was perhaps better than the overall performance merited. After feeling short-changed by the draws at Colchester and Mansfield perhaps it’s about time.

I did like the feeling of déjà vu when Sam Matthews prepared to take a free kick from a very similar position to the one he had against Bradford City in the previous match. I urged him to repeat his effort, which he did, producing a wickedly curling shot and Josh Coulson’s attempted clearing header beat his own keeper on his near post.

One thing that baffles and annoys me about Crawley Town’s managers is the way they so often withdraw their best players. Matthews suffered that fate despite being the Reds’ most positive and incisive player in a rather disjointed first half.

In truth the sides were evenly matched and both enjoyed spells of midfield dominance rather than offering much threat to the goalkeepers. That was shown by Orient’s equaliser which was yet another own goal, this one down to the combative Tom Dallison.

The records will show Max Watters maintained his hot streak and scored the winner, which he did rather well; perhaps making up for the three chances he could have converted earlier. That is not a criticism but merely an observation that the young striker still has to develop his all round game.

It might help if he played every game with the selfless Ashley Nadesan (who set up the winner with a precise square pass) and the tireless Tom Nichols in an attacking three. I have great memories of the old ‘W’ formation which saw sides attack with five men. Attacking in such numbers would surely bring greater rewards.

Last Tuesday Reds found managerless Bradford City a tough nut to crack. Despite 1300 home fans occupying all four sides of the stadium the team could not rise to the occasion. The Bantams took an early lead, Lee Novak pouncing as Glenn Morris parried a low, driven cross when it was safe to leave it.

Midway through the half it was all square as Harry Pritchard could do no more than to head a superb free kick by Sam Matthews into his own net. Bradford City then adopted deep defence to hold on to a point.

Jack Powell produced some great passes but played too deep; Max Watters hit one super diagonal drive that just evaded the far post leaving Tony Craig as the Red most likely to score.