Crawley boss Scott Lindsey admitted his men “probably got away with it” after they managed to scrape a 2-1 home victory over Harrogate in an underwhelming display.
A second-half goal from Klaidi Lolos settled the issue after Jack Muldoon had cancelled out a long-range strike from Crawley skipper Ben Gladwin midway through the first half.
Lindsey was quick to admit that the Reds, who had won only one of their previous seven league games, were far from their best and on another day would not have escaped with three points.
The former Swindon manager said: ”We weren’t at our best. We were loose with the ball and turned it over too much.
“But all credit to the lads for showing a lot of character. Harrogate made a lot of chances and on another day we might have lost.
“Since I’ve been manager, we’ve been great at home and I always fancy us to score, but Harrogate had too many chances and we probably got away with it.”
Gladwin didn’t celebrate his goal when putting the Reds ahead in the 23rd minute with a terrific shot and Lindsey explained: ”Glads was not happy with the general performance and that’s why he didn’t celebrate.
“He was disappointed and I didn’t expect him to celebrate because I know what he’s like.”
Harrogate had won their previous four away league games and manager Simon Weaver was dismayed his men failed to make the most of a string of opportunities.
He said: ”It is disappointing to lose a game when we had so many chances and had a lot of the ball. We had a lot of corners and lots of shots but just couldn’t finish it off. It was very frustrating.”
Weaver admitted he did not expect Crawley to turn the ball over as often as they did and added: ”We watched Crawley a few times this season to see how they’ve been playing and I thought we could cause them a few problems.
“We made plenty of chances and some of our build-up was excellent. But, to be fair, they gave us some help and we didn’t expect them to give us as many turnovers as they did.
“It was a pity we didn’t expose them fully. When we have scored, it has been with a good old-fashioned ball into the box and a header – I just wish we had done that more.”
