Williams makes his case for defence after FA Cup success

Luke Williams heaped praise on his Notts County defenders as their importance was highlighted during their 3-2 win over Crawley in the FA Cup.

Danilo Orsi scored twice for the visitors but goals from Dan Crowley, David McGoldrick and substitute Macaulay Langstaff saw the Magpies progress to the second round for the first time since 2019.

“I thought Crawley were absolutely brilliant, they also deserved to be in the hat for the next round because both teams created enough chances to win the game,” said Williams.

“They made it very difficult for us but I was disappointed with the overall performance because I thought we lacked bite, and I don’t think we were convincing enough.

“We were sloppy at times with trying to smooth the game when the ball is in a compromised position, and you need to put your body there.

“I didn’t enjoy the performance overall, but I enjoyed the attitude of the players trying to win.

“The defenders defended the box, and if they didn’t it could have been a disaster because we missed too many tackles and then we are relying on three guys and the goalkeeper to get us out of trouble – and they did that.”

Crawley boss Scott Lindsey said: “Yeah, there are some real positives from the game. We got 90 minutes into some of the players and maybe in slightly different positions of what they are used to.

“I thought they really commanded in the way we played and we created a lot – Adam Campbell coming in for us was a massive plus and Ade Adeyemo coming onto the pitch was a real positive and involved in one of the actions we could have scored at the end.

“(There are) lots of positives but we’re really disappointed not to get something from the game.”

The Red Devils return to the Broadfield Stadium on Tuesday to take on Aston Villa’s Under-21 team in the EFL Trophy and Lindsey insists his side are relishing the challenge.

After three successive away matches, he added: “It feels like it’s been ages, of course we are looking forward to being back at home.

“We are really good at home and we get a lot of points at home, so it will be a nice change of jumping on the bus again.

“We are going to be picking a team that is going to win us the game for sure. It will be an opportunity for some of the lads who haven’t played as much, but these boys are more than capable of beating Aston Villa on Tuesday night.”