Sorry everybody for my absence. Everything has been rather hectic here as the construction of my "Supershed" has been taking all my time! More about the Supershed will follow in another article. Back to football!
Crawley 2 Macclesfield 0
Crawley's first league home match took place last Saturday in front of a disappointingly small crowd at The Broadfield. Macclesfield looked and played rather negatively almost as if they were there for damage limitation rather than play a game of football
Their tactics held us back and the first half ended goalless although Crawley had a few chances. The second half proved better as Crawley pushed forward. Soon the deadlock was broken when Tyrone Barnett put us ahead in the 57th minute. In the 75th minute Wesley Thomas, on as a substitute for Tubbs, sealed our three points. The low crowd of about 2300 hardly made any noise but we came away with our first league victory. Ho Hum.
Crawley 3 Southend 0
This was a stark contrast to the boring Macclesfield match. Reasonable sized crowd of 3220 including 975 away supporters who were initially very vocal made for a great atmosphere. In the first half both teams worked hard but to no avail. HT 0-0. The teams seemed evenly matched.
The second half was what football is all about. Fantastic entertainment from great football. The first Crawley goal was either brilliant or a fluke but it changed the game. Dean Howell sent in what appeared to be a high cross from the left wing to no-one in particular that had their goalkeeper as confused as the crowd. The next I saw of the ball was as it came down into the top corner of the goal (my view was obstructed by the stadium roof)
Either Deano had intended to lob the misplaced goalie or a wild cross serendipitously came right. Who knows
A goal is a goal and from that moment Crawley dominated with The Broadfield really buzzing.
Soon after Tubbs and Barnett were both fouled in the penalty area in the same move and the Ref pointed straight to the spot
Tubbs whacked home the penalty to make it 2-0 and to get his first league goal and a few minutes later he grabbed his second when he headed home from another Howell cross.
This win against worthy opposition puts Crawley in second place, albeit only after 3 games, in league 2.
In answer to Bulldog, yes some of the teams we will play will be stronger but some will in actual fact be weaker. There is probably not much difference between the bottom half of League 2 and the top half of the Blue Square Premier. This is illustrated by the Blue Square being a "graveyard" of ex-league sides who cannot get out
Two wins, one draw, second in the table with a healthy goal difference - I'm happy
COYR!