Reasons Not To Worry: Crawley Town 3-0 Imps

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

All we needed was to come out fighting, get them pinned in again and I was convinced a goal would come. One decent second half and we’d be up the motorway with the points we needed, happy and comfortable.

Instead, we pressed the big red self-destruct button. Within 50 seconds of the restart, they go ahead, and it’s not great watching. A simple ball splits O’Connor and Roughan, leaving Will Swann to glide in behind. Roughan can’t get a tackle, and Swann beats Wickens at his near post. Looking back, I think the keeper might be a bit disappointed to be beaten from there, I’m not saying it’s his fault, there’s a lot not to like in the moment, but he might think he could have done better.

That blew the second half out of the water for us. After that, we crumbled, we played poorly, and there’s no denying that. However (and here’s the bit where you all boo), we were still better than them in most areas. We played more passes (194 to 110), and we played them more accurately (73% to 61%). We had more possession (61% to 38%), more chances (six to four) and more positional attacks (23 to nine). We were just sloppy, lacking the final ball, which cost us. Right now, I see that as a reason not to worry. I really do – despite the scoreline, there were positives.

Here’s another thing to be positive about. Under the previous manager, at 1-0 down, we wouldn’t have chased the game. We did chase the game, perhaps a little later than I’d hoped, but we started pushing forward, looking for the equaliser. There’s a lot of anger on social media, I’m told, but there would have been more if we’d just lost 1-0 and not given it a go. We did give it a go, we pressed higher, we looked to get up the field, and we got hit on the break, twice. It gives the scoreline gloss, but in truth, it’s a 1-0 game. The right team won; they took their chances to hit us and fair play, but two of those chances came because of us trying to win the game. Remember, you might not have thought we tried to win the game because we didn’t reign down hell and fire on their goal, but we did positive things. We just did them badly.

Again, we forced five corners but did little with them. We had more shots (unbelievable, I know), but we hit a resolute Crawley wall. They’re not a good side, but they had a fight in them. They got their lead and sensed a first league victory in something like nine games, and they battled for it. You have to respect that, but if we played that game ten times more, my honest opinion is we’d win it on six or seven of those occasions. Another ref gives us the penalty. In the games we don’t get the penalty, we don’t concede early and we simply keep doing first-half things, but better. Still, just like Saturday, it’s all ifs and buts. The facts are we lost 3-0, and it was disappointing.

Ronan Darcy got the second and I’m quite surprised he’s at Crawley. He was one of the Bolton youth players forced to move into the first team when they were relegated a few years ago, and he scored his first professional goal against us in our 5-1 win just before COVID. He catches us on the break, but in fairness, he’s got a lot of work to do. Darikwa stands him up nicely, but he cuts inside and again, beats Wickens at his near post. I’m not sure the keeper saw it very early, and for me, there’s no blame here. It was just a quick break after an attack of ours broke down, us pushing too high.

The second goal took all semblance of team away from us, and while we did keep trying to get forward, we looked a beaten side. The third was no surprise, again on the break. Their sub was full of running, Hepburn-Murphy is a former Villa youngster and he looked to have a lot of energy. We were just completely exposed, trying to create something fruitlessly, and they killed off the game. Them winning 3-0 put a huge amount of gloss on the right result, if that makes sense. Still, we lost 3-0 because we kept trying to get forward, and I’d rather that than 1-0 and defending for our lives.

You won’t believe me if I tell you there’s nothing to worry about, not if you’re predisposed to worry. I don’t think there is, not right now. Crawley had a decent tactic – they usually like possession, and yet they were happy for us to have the ball, hence us having more possession in a game for the first time since Barnsley was at home. It worked, as they sat back and looked to hit us, which they did well.

What is a little concerning, and something doubtless we’ll be working on, is the ease with which two sides have opened us up. Over the last 180 minutes, we’ve conceded six goals from an xG of just over two. We’ve only faced seven shots in those 180 minutes, and six times the net has rippled. That isn’t like us, given how we’ve been so solid in recent months, and perhaps if I did have a worry, that would be it.

I suppose I ought to mention that unbeaten away run as well. It was great while it lasted, and in the build up there was barely a mention of extending it, which is perhaps a shame. It’s gone now, but we shouldn’t lose sight of the fact it’s been more than ten months since our last away defeat, so any massive meltdown might be a little misplaced. It’s easy to see 3-0 and cringe, and I’m not saying we played well, but last night was a bad day at the office, where we didn’t quite find the right pass, missed out on a big decision and then faded after conceding first.

I’ll now move on and forget about it, hopefully we can get back on track this weekend against Stockport.

Up the Imps.

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