I think it’s fair to say the scoreline flattered us somewhat. Hopefully the result will give us some confidence and impetus moving forward.
Was quite disappointed and surprised at the attendance. First time (apart from trophy match) that we have dropped below 2,000 I think? The price can’t have been an issue, but I’m guessing that a combination of recent form and the weather had an influence.
We have also had a lot of home games recently. Perhaps after the exit in the cup to Col U a few were put off.
I'd imagine the abject performance against Swindon was more of a factor.
I am not sure about the "slugfest", "toiled and "flattered" comments. From where I was, we pretty much dominated the game throughout and especially in the second half when almost the whole game was played in their half, except for the odd break. We restricted Scunthorpe to the odd pot shot - they had two shots on target in the first half, both of which were comfortably saved by Glenn and other than one extraordinary save in the second half he was never troubled.
the team continued with the same work ethic and dominance we saw at Cambridge, except this time, we got the result we deserved. The defence were back to being rock solid - Lewis and Sesay both had outstanding games - Sesay especially, I don't think he was beaten once during the game. Dallison and Tunnicliffe missed nothing in the air.
In the midfield, the real sense of how good Scunthorpe are is that they made Ferguson look good. Dannie and Panuche were outstanding, Bez had a good game and tried his luck a few times. It was great to see Nadesan score but he is not great in the sole striker role and as soon as we switched to Rees up front we looked much more effective and looked as if we would score from every attack. Rees is stronger than he looks, jumps higher and headers better than you expect, is faster than the opposition defence would like and has a great shot. We looked a much more dangerous team when he moved up and ANG came on.
We missed a few reasonable chances before the goal in the first half and it was very well taken by Nadesan.
The second half was dominated by us and we were camped in their half for the rest of the game. They were reduced to long balls and hopeful punts to Jamie Proctor, who proved as good at dealing with these as he did when he was with us. As always though, when you are only one ahead anything can happen and they fluked an equalised. This really spurred them on and they started to play well until we took the lead again - so, three minutes then.
The second goal was a fantastic strike and as soon as the third went in we could all relax (on 94 minutes!). I don't recall the last time Crawley scored four goals in a meaningful game (Sussex Senior Cup doesn't count) but this was fully deserved and a great reward for the effort, frustrations and fitness of the players.
My only comments were that surely Young has nailed one of the troublesome full back spots now. Cioffi has made a mistake trying to blood two very inexperienced full backs at the same time.
I thought Greco Cox up front was an eye opener. Nadeson took his goal OK but not sure his all round game is working any better than Bloomfield’s at the moment. We may have to try something unconventional when Palmer is indisposed and Reece could be it