Reasons Not To Worry: Crawley Town 3-0 Imps

October 23, 2024 Gary Crawley, League One, Lincoln City, Matches, Reports 0

Credit Graham Burrell

Urgh. I’ve slept on it, wondering if maybe I can feel something positive in the warm morning sunshine, but alas, no. That sunshine is hidden (at least up here) behind a thick layer of cloud and fog, which is a great analogy for us yesterday.

That wasn’t Michael Skubala’s Lincoln City. I know the internet will be awash with worry and the same people telling you we’re short here and there, but the truth is we’ve been in every single game we’ve played this season until last night. I’m not sure what we can put the result down to. Maybe there was a degree of complacency among certain players. Maybe the turnaround and long journey affected us more than they should have. Maybe we were just having an off day. I think there’s a sense of all three of those being the case.

I can see what we wanted to do – get Erik Ring up the pitch to hurt them, but in doing so, we affected the balance of the side at first. Tendayi Darikwa was probably our Man of the Match on the left, as most of the attacking threat we had came from that direction. In the middle, we’re eager to get minutes into Ethan Hamilton, but he’s looking off the pace right now as well. It just left us looking unbalanced against a side that was there for the taking.

Let’s not mince our words – Crawley are not a good team. Take Kelly out of their side and they have little to nothing, and that’s being generous. We made them look better, we gave them a scoreline that they can be proud of, and that probably sent shockwaves through League One. We did that.

I’ve not had this feeling for a long while, the dread going to sleep, knowing I’ve got to relive a game that many of you won’t bother with. I’ll get far fewer views on this than I will on most of my recent reports because, like me, a lot of supporters just don’t want to relive defeats. There will be some new faces reading this, those who revel in our defeats and want to see how the hell I find positives in the result, and believe it or not, I have found a couple.

I know when you lose 3-0, the temptation is to just say, ‘It was rubbish,’ but it wasn’t all rubbish. The first half, while lacklustre and lacking a bit of direction, I thought we were okay. We were up against a side who like possession, and yet we had more of the ball. We pressed high and looked to try to force them into mistakes. It didn’t work, I can’t say it did, and our decision-making wasn’t great, but we weren’t ‘rubbish’ by any stretch of the imagination. The problem was our execution in key moments. We had five corners, for instance, and what did we do with them? I know stats show that usually corners are not the threat supporters believe they are, but for us, they are. Dom Jeffries hit the post with one, causing a good scramble in the area, but actually, the delivery was really poor.

The same goes for our decision-making. We had a few moments like the Peterborough goal, where we got them pinned into their area and started going across the front of the box, probing, but we didn’t get a player through. When a chance came for a cross on a couple of occasions, we turned away, and went back, and while it isn’t an issue being patient, it did feel frustrating, given that they weren’t that good at the back. Honestly, if we’d scored first last night, we’d have won 3-0, not them. That’s how it felt to me, the first goal was crucial.

It should have come in the first half, and it should have come from 12 yards. there’s an undeniable penalty on Ben House, pulled down on a cross, and if the ref gives it, we have a chance. It’s really clear, and the Imps were utterly furious. We can’t hinge the defeat on it, but in my mind, it is a clear foul. In fairness to Carl Brook, he is perhaps unsighted at the time, but there’s an assistant referee who has got to give it.

I thought the officials were poor in the first half, something that divided opinion on our Patreon Discord. It wasn’t major things (like a clear penalty….) but little bumps. I counted six occasions in the Crawley defensive third where two players came together; three were given as fouls (all for them), and three were not (all for us). There were two in particular, a barge on Jeffries and a nudge by Hamilton that had me furious, when identical fouls the other way went against us. Given our delivery and execution last night, maybe it wouldn’t have made a difference, but when the chips are down, you look for some solace, someone to blame, right?

What has convinced me it was a penalty (yep, still on about that) was two things. Firstly, as soon as House is hauled over, you can see supporters behind the goal turn to look at the assistant referee. That is an indication that there was a foul. Then, as the two teams trudged off after an uninspiring first half, Conor McGrandles had a word with the referee about it, getting a yellow.

My mate Pete messaged me straight away and said it was brainless, and I get that point of view. But, if I’m in that moment, knowing we’ve been denied a clear penalty, maybe I do the same. I saw Conor first-hand at training, and he had a pop at a coach about offside in training, so there’s an eagerness to win every time. However, getting a yellow at half time effectively ruled out bringing him on, which was frustrating.

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