Crawley Town boss Scott Lindsey left unimpressed by ‘very poor’ second half in defeat at Gillingham

Shaun Williams’ 48th minute goal extended the Gills’ unbeaten League Two run to four games, and consigned Lindsey to his first loss as Reds boss.

Gillingham’s victory, coupled with Hartlepool United’s win at Doncaster Rovers, means Crawley are just a point clear of the drop zone – albeit with three games in hand over third-from-bottom Pools.

Lindsey said he saw ‘real signs of encouragement’ in the Reds’ first half performance, but admitted they were ultimately let down by their second half display.

The Crawley manager said: “It’s disappointing really. I thought in the first half we were very good, and in the second half we were very poor. That sums it up in a nutshell.

“We didn’t start the game particularly well. In the first ten minutes I thought we were kind of slow, and it invited a press on. They got on the front foot and pressed us, but once the game opened up a little bit I thought we were better.

“In the second half they scored early with a long throw into the box. It was kind of a second phase from the long throw.

“We never played, for me, in the second half. We made it an end-to-end game, which kind of suited them rather than us.

“The boys have taken a lot of information in a short period of time. First half was encouraging, the second half they reverted back to what they have been doing.

“There were real signs of encouragement in the first half, but we’ve got to stick to what we do – and we didn’t.

"The goal changed it really, because we then felt we had to be rushed with our actions. It was 47 minutes I believe when they scored, so we didn’t have to rush anything. We should have carried on playing and tried to find that calmness within the chaos, and we didn’t do that.

“There was no rush needed. We just needed to keep calm and carry on playing, and we would have been fine. It wasn’t us at all in the second half.”

Ben Gladwin skippered the Reds for the first time since he was named permanent captain following the departure of George Francomb.

The 30-year-old, who was signed from League Two rivals Swindon Town during the January transfer window, carved out a couple of goalscoring opportunities in the first half and was unlucky not the find the back of the net.

Lindsey continued: “He picked the ball up in the middle of the half and drove through the middle and carried his run on, got it back, but it was a tight angle for him to finish.

“I thought he was very good in the first half but, like I said, in the second half it became a difficult game. Glads wants to play in a team that can control and dominate, but when it becomes end-to-end it’s not his game. I think that goes for a lot of players out there. We needed to have been more controlled than we were.”

Kellan Gordon, another January signing, made his Crawley debut against the Gills. The 25-year-old full-back, who was acquired from Mansfield Town on deadline day, played 90 minutes before he was replaced by Travis Johnson in stoppage time.

And Lindsey was confident that Gordon would blossom into a valuable asset for the Reds after a positive first performance.

He added: “He’ll bring an attacking threat. It’s clear to see that he wants to get forward. The longer he’s with us the better he’ll become, because obviously we’ll coach him and he’ll understand patterns and when to go forward and not to. He’ll only get better.

“He had moments in the game where he really pushed forward and became that attacking threat. As we coach him he’ll get better at that.”

Crawley Town were backed by a sold out away end at Priestfield Stadium, courtesy of Gillingham’s ‘pay what you can’ initiative for the game.

Lindsey was keen to pay tribute to the travelling Reds faithful, but the 50-year-old admitted he was ‘gutted’ that his team couldn’t give Crawley supporters ‘something to cheer about’ at the final whistle.

He said: “[There was] brilliant support. They were brilliant throughout the game, I’m just really gutted that we’ve not given them something to cheer about today.

“I’m big on the fans, and they were fantastic. They came out in their numbers, sang all the way through the game, but we wanted them to go away happy.”