'It's good for them to get out on the pitch and show the manager what they've got' - Lewis Young on Crawley Town's friendly win over Woking

Lewis Young praised his Crawley Town XI for showing first team manager John Yems 'what they've got' following their 2-1 win over National League-outfit Woking in a training ground friendly this (Wednesday) afternoon.
Lewis Young in action for Crawley Town last season. Picture by PW Sporting PhotographyLewis Young in action for Crawley Town last season. Picture by PW Sporting Photography
Lewis Young in action for Crawley Town last season. Picture by PW Sporting Photography

The Reds right-back took charge of a team made up of first-team players and trialists, and goals in each half from Tarryn Allarakhia and young gun Henry Burnett gave Crawley the win.

Young said: "These games are not really about the result. It's more about performance, especially for some of the lads who've not had as many opportunities as the other boys in the team, who have been doing fantastic.

Hide Ad
Hide Ad

"It's good for them to get out on the pitch and show the manager what they've got. I think there's a few lads that have done that today.

"They've really impressed and shown that they've looked after themselves over the previous six-to-eight months, and showed that they can get through as many minutes as they did today.

"We've had two (games) in two weeks now and this one was a bit better than last week but there's still things we can all improve on, myself included."

The Reds fielded several youngsters and Young was delighted with their performances against Woking.

Hide Ad
Hide Ad

The defender was quick to highlight the performances of Allarakhia and Burnett and challenged the pair to continue to 'show it out there on the pitch'.

Young added: "We ended up with three or four sixteen, seventeen-year-olds out there so it's good to show that we are trying to bring a few lads through.

"And they all put the effort in. There's little things that we can all sharpen up on and that's down from the senior players all the way through.

"(Allarakhia and Burnett) have both shown in training that they are both really talented players and it's now trying to get that end-product in them.

Hide Ad
Hide Ad

"We've seen today that they've both got it so it's down to them to show it out there on the pitch."

Young himself has yet to feature for Crawley this season, but he has been working closely with manager Yems and his assistant Lee Bradbury at the training ground and also in the dugout on matchdays.

The defender revealed he missed playing for the first team but paid tribute to Yems and Bradbury for allowing him to help out behind the scenes.

He said: "It's the second best thing at the minute. I'm able to still get grass under my feet but I wish I was still out there playing.

Hide Ad
Hide Ad

"Luckily I've been given an opportunity by the manager and Bradders (Bradbury), and Erdem (Konyar, Reds' CEO) to keep helping in some sort of respect.

"I've loved this season so far. Maybe the one black mark on my book is that I don't get to play in the team because it looks so enjoyable to be playing in.

"But I'm doing the next best thing and I'm getting to work with them everyday and hopefully they listen, or don't listen, whichever way it is, but it's working."

Related topics: