Crawley Town manager Scott Lindsey: We didn’t create enough in Doncaster Rovers defeat

The Reds’ five-game winning run in all competitions came to an end following the 2-0 loss at the Eco-Power Stadium.

A Mo Faal strike and a Joe Ironside penalty helped Rovers claim their third league win in four, and saw Crawley drop to fifth in the table.

Lindsey said: “We started the game reasonably well. We felt that we dominated and controlled that first 20, 25 minutes.

“We gave away a poor goal. We looked open in that moment. There was inaction down our right-hand side, they get in but we’re open.

“Our centre-halves are split, and we don’t get back and get compact on the turnover of possession quick enough. It’s a sloppy goal to give away, but we were still in the game obviously.

“We said at half-time we felt that our possession was good but we didn’t create enough. We had players playing tonight who have goals in them, who have got creation in them, and we didn’t see that tonight enough for me.”

Doncaster took the lead on 27 minutes when Ironside pounced on a Crawley mistake and squared the ball to Faal, who coolly slotted home from close-range.

Lindsey admitted it was a bad time for the Reds to concede after making a bright start to proceedings.

He said: “It was a fine example of goals change games. We were relatively comfortable. I felt there were some moments where we did concede too much space for the opposition.

“Corey [Addai] made a save before they scored where, again, we seemed a bit open. I think because of how we pressed, high up the pitch, we were aggressive within our press and then we became open when the ball went forward.

“We didn’t recover into our slots quick enough, but it came at a bad time the goal – as any goal does.”

Doncaster doubled their advantage on 62 minutes. Will Wright was adjudged to have hauled down Joseph Olowu in the box, and Ironside duly dispatched his penalty.

Lindsey was less than impressed with the referee’s decision to award Rovers a spot-kick, claiming a foul should have been given the other way for a ‘push’ on Wright.

He continued: “The referee is perfectly positioned. Will gets pushed to the floor, and as he’s falling to the floor he then brings the player with him so then it’s a penalty. But what about the push?

“It’s just crazy that it’s a penalty for me. He gets pushed to the floor. It’s a foul the other way. It’s really clear when you watch it back, so he’s got that wrong. It’s a killer.”

Lindsey made three changes from Saturday’s excellent win over Sutton United. Harry Forster, Travis Johnson and Klaidi Lolos replaced Dion Conroy, Ben Gladwin and Danilo Orsi, while Kellan Gordon returned to the matchday squad for the first time since August 15.

The Reds boss revealed none of the changes were enforced by injury, but through a desire to keep players as fresh as possible.

Lindsey said: “There’s no injury concerns, it’s more so we can leave players at home who wouldn’t have benefitted from playing tonight or travelling up and sitting on the bench.

“We had to be fresh tonight in order for us to be fresh Saturday. The players that missed out tonight, they could have played but we would have risked losing them for a long period which we don’t want.

“The three players that were missing tonight, it’s vital that we have them fit and ready for 85, 90 per cent of the games. If you overcook them and play them, and play them, and play them, they’re going to be missing for large parts of the season.

“It’s a decision I had to make and I stand by that.”

This Saturday sees Crawley entertain Ryan Reynolds and Rob McElhenney-owned Wrexham in front of a sell-out Broadfield Stadium.

Lindsey admitted he hadn’t paid much thought to this weekend’s clash with the Red Dragons, preferring to address the mistakes made at Doncaster.

He added: “First of all, we’ll debrief this game. It’s still important we work on this game and how it’s gone.

“We won’t even talk about Wrexham until we go back into training on Thursday, by which time I would have watched them at length and got a game plan in place.

“We concentrate on one game at a time, and it’s important we continue to do that.

“We’ve got the journey back now. We’ll get a good recovery session into the players and we’ll be ready to go again on Saturday.”