Crawley Town boss Harry Kewell pleased with Reds' second-half improvement against Forest Green

Crawley Town head coach Harry Kewell was pleased with the way Reds improved after the break against Forest Green after a poor first half display.
Crawley Town FC v Forest Green FC Capt Jimmy Smith. Pic Steve Robards SR1727293 SUS-171111-162109001Crawley Town FC v Forest Green FC Capt Jimmy Smith. Pic Steve Robards SR1727293 SUS-171111-162109001
Crawley Town FC v Forest Green FC Capt Jimmy Smith. Pic Steve Robards SR1727293 SUS-171111-162109001

In the opening 45 minutes the visitors dominated possession and hit both the post and crossbar as they went in search of an opening goal.

Kewell made two substitutions at half-time, bringing on Josh Payne and Josh Yorwerth for Dannie Bulman and Lewis Young.

Hide Ad
Hide Ad

He was rewarded by a much-improved second half display during which Crawley could have found the net.

Crawley Town FC v Forest Green FC . Pic Steve Robards SR1727305 SUS-171111-162056001Crawley Town FC v Forest Green FC . Pic Steve Robards SR1727305 SUS-171111-162056001
Crawley Town FC v Forest Green FC . Pic Steve Robards SR1727305 SUS-171111-162056001

Kewell said: “That certainly was a game of two halves.

“Forest Green were excellent first half, I thought we were slow, I thought we were sloppy, we were second to the ball.

“They were passing, doing little different movements, getting in behind, created a lot of problems, hit the bar.

“They could have definitely gone 1-0 up. We had one or two chances but I felt things needed to be changed.

Crawley town FC v Forest Green FC. Thomas Verheydt. Pic Steve Robards  SR1727485 SUS-171111-163222001Crawley town FC v Forest Green FC. Thomas Verheydt. Pic Steve Robards  SR1727485 SUS-171111-163222001
Crawley town FC v Forest Green FC. Thomas Verheydt. Pic Steve Robards SR1727485 SUS-171111-163222001
Hide Ad
Hide Ad

“Second half we made those changes and we were like a different team; transformed. The attacking side of it was fantastic, hitting the bar, creating chances.

“We must understand when we get on top of teams, when we’ve rode our luck in the first half, when we do have opportunities, we need to punish them.

“It seems to be the same old things, we put pressure, put pressure, put pressure, then it’s a sucker punch.

“When we have shots we have got to follow-in and like wise when they have shots they have got to follow-in.”

Crawley Town FC v Forest Green FC . Mark Connelly. Pic Steve Robards SR1727403 SUS-171111-161024001Crawley Town FC v Forest Green FC . Mark Connelly. Pic Steve Robards SR1727403 SUS-171111-161024001
Crawley Town FC v Forest Green FC . Mark Connelly. Pic Steve Robards SR1727403 SUS-171111-161024001
Hide Ad
Hide Ad

Kewell was delighted his players supported Dutch striker Thomas Verheydt who was back after a two-month injury lay-off.

He said: “Credit to my boys. They didn’t really panic. We created for Thomas, fantastic, loved it.

“There are a lot of question marks over Thomas; we believe in him. He has just come back from a serious injury. It was fantastic for him to get out there and get his first goal. It’s a big ask, it’s a difficult league.

“But I thought they were excellent second half, especially Yorwerth and Payne as well.”

Related topics: