A leggy performance though. That seemed like one game too many for some. I thought Anderson and Leaburn were poor, but defence was excellent again.
Also thought it was leggy towards the end. Hopefully we can grind out the 3pts on Saturday and then have a well earned two week break for internationals before a nine-game mini-season to the finish line.
I thought that, but I hope we don't finish games with Godden and Hylton (or Chuks) up front together too often. Would rather see Kanu up there with his energy to run the channels and press defenders. Without that, we're relying on a slower front two to win headers and hold up the ball, because they're not going to be chasing balls into space.
Great win, and defence superb (again) but we made hard work of it, and were quite lucky again to win. Why on earth Hylton comes on ahead of Kanu is embarrassing - last 15 minutes were a tough watch
Experience is why.
Well it’s still stupid, he gave away a foul after 30 seconds and kicked it out of play twice. Kanu can press and Hylton can’t
That slows the game down though, means that Crawley have to stop / start and will find it difficult to get going again, as its a natural way to disrupt their tempo - Agree it would be good to have someone who can press, but you can play it round a player who does that.
Was there tonight - wasn’t expecting the beautiful game, and that is what I got - Crawley keeper kept them in it start of 2nd half, especially the save from Miles point blank shot - I can’t say too much about 2nd half defensive performance by Charlton, as my eyesight is crap, their floodlights are crap, I’m a short arse, and the rake on the away end terrace is crap
But onwards we go - quite incredible really, considering earlier this season when it looked like it would be another shit Div 3 season
Beat Wigan Saturday, and results go out way again, then we are in nosebleed territory 😳
A proper snatch and grab! Not at our best but we got it done. Lloyd Jones is some player, also credit to TC who this season is probably our biggest threat going forward.
Shoutout to the Sky commentator who said Macualey Gillesphey had won Ligue 1 with Plymouth, mistook Godden for Leaburn at one point, and then said us catching Wycombe was virtually impossible. Not that I could do any better
And he said Thierry Small was Bryan Small’s son. Is that true? Not seen it mentioned before.
On top of the great academy results two of the most dangerous players on the pitch in TC and Quitirna both came through Sparrows Lane as did Crawley's captain Barker. All in all there were 5 academy graduates on the pitch and 1 in the home dugout, plus our manager sort of graduated from our academy too
Shoutout to the Sky commentator who said Macualey Gillesphey had won Ligue 1 with Plymouth, mistook Godden for Leaburn at one point, and then said us catching Wycombe was virtually impossible. Not that I could do any better
And he said Thierry Small was Bryan Small’s son. Is that true? Not seen it mentioned before.
I generally leave it to others to monitor the other clubs, but was clicking on the Wrexham game page (Reading hung on with 10 men) and Dobbo is definitely out injured. No info on how long for. The Hollywood strike force of Mullin and Palmer have not been even on the bench for the last 3 games either. Of course Wrexham have invested heavily to replace thé but they were both playing their part until recently.
Wrexham may côme to regret that they aint got Super Will Abbott.
Sloppy performance, not pretty, but three points are all that matters. Jones was imperious. Would much rather preferred to have seen Kanu not Hylton as Daniel can chase and close down all day but I suppose Hylts can pass the ball off the pitch pretty well so what do I know.
Not looked at forthcoming fixtures, taking one game at a time. Seen some comments about postponing a game due to international break in order to give the players a rest. I say don’t. Carry on while we have the momentum.
I know what you mean about momentum. We are playing Huddersfied on 29/03 and after 15/03 they have 2 weeks off.
After these busy run of fixtures for us, a week rest may be good for the run in. Difficult one to call.
Thoroughly enjoyable evening - exceptionally well hosted by the owners of Crawley Town, and to top it off a great result. Concerned about Josh as he would be a big miss. Thought Gilbert looked like he has potential and yet again Jones and Macca were immense.
Like Saturday, the stars of the show were in defence with Jones & Gillesphy starting to really cement a great understanding, whilst Mannion behind seems commanding and a lot less ponderous than he was earlier in the season.
If we can get things similarly clicking again at the opposite end, we’ll be on fire.
Might only be 10 games, but loads of football left in this season and many outcomes still possible. Love it, so much nicer actually having something of interest going on.
Want to say fair play to Crawley, whilst Stockport on Saturday have taken the approach of of playing the game at the edges, the two times I’ve seen Crawley I think they’ve played decent football, on what must be a tiny budget.
Panutche Camara was made of balsa wood with us but has played 34 games for Crawley this season and I think is a class act. Wished things had worked out different when with us
Not looked at forthcoming fixtures, taking one game at a time. Seen some comments about postponing a game due to international break in order to give the players a rest. I say don’t. Carry on while we have the momentum.
I know what you mean about momentum. We are playing Huddersfied on 29/03 and after 15/03 they have 2 weeks off.
After these busy run of fixtures for us, a week rest may be good for the run in. Difficult one to call.
But I'd be interested to know the stats regarding our results following international breaks over past seasons.
I seem to recall that a "week off" hasn't done us any favours with the next match played invariably resulting in a defeat.
Is anyone able to verify this & maybe advise the gaffer accordingly ?
Can I just say how refreshing it is to have faith in your goalkeeper. Mannion's handling is excellent - when he comes for it he usually gets a good fist to the ball or catches it. Towards the end they had a couple of corners & 1 he came right out & caught it. Took all the pressure off.
Comments
Lovely bit of racket at times tonight:
https://x.com/BigBadBraz/status/1899592264218767607?t=KIShLFMfF6G37wNsoSq42A&s=19
And tell your wife you’re not going shopping if she asks.
But onwards we go - quite incredible really, considering earlier this season when it looked like it would be another shit Div 3 season
Beat Wigan Saturday, and results go out way again, then we are in nosebleed territory 😳
https://www.thesun.co.uk/sport/15953924/thierry-small-southampton-arsenal-uncle/amp/
😉
Wrexham may côme to regret that they aint got Super Will Abbott.
Like Saturday, the stars of the show were in defence with Jones & Gillesphy starting to really cement a great understanding, whilst Mannion behind seems commanding and a lot less ponderous than he was earlier in the season.
I seem to recall that a "week off" hasn't done us any favours with the next match played invariably resulting in a defeat.
Is anyone able to verify this & maybe advise the gaffer accordingly ?
What a turnaround. Credit to Jones and the boys.
10 games left to make up 5 points, with both Wrexham and Wycombe still to play. COYR
And he's kicking is not too shabby either.