We caught up with Crawley Town boss Scott Lindsey after his side's disappointing 2-0 defeat to Doncaster Rovers at the Broadfield Stadium.
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00:00 Scott, thank you for joining us. Obviously a frustrating result here at the Bournemouth Stadium, but can I start by getting your reflection of the game?
00:07 Yeah, lack of conviction to win a game for me. I thought that we were passive and didn't play with the energy that we have been playing with.
00:17 I thought that we were not aggressive enough in the final third and their first goal was just really poor defending.
00:32 We had him trapped on the side of the pitch, three players around him, but we allowed him to get through and get round and score a goal from a really tight angle.
00:42 Really, really poor defending. But in general, we didn't have enough conviction.
00:49 We looked as if it was a missed opportunity for me, a big missed opportunity, especially after looking at the results.
00:56 A lot of teams around us lost and drawn and we didn't take our opportunity to really nail our position today.
01:04 So, disappointed with that. But yeah, we just didn't have nowhere near enough conviction. We had chances to make chances and we had chances to score and we were just fluffy.
01:19 We were nice at the top of the pitch, not aggressive enough, just fluffy.
01:22 Is that what you put it down to? Being too nice, you say about the conviction. Just being too nice, was it a lack of belief?
01:29 No disrespect to Doncaster, but if we're in, like I said, they're a good side, right? No disrespect to them.
01:38 This is not me being disrespectful to them because I would never do that.
01:41 But I feel this, given the season we've had and given the position that we're in, if we're serious about getting promoted or serious about being in the playoffs, then we have to win this game today.
01:53 And that was a pressure that I put on the players, but we have to. And players at this level of football need to play under that kind of pressure.
02:00 And it felt to me as if we played with no conviction. A big part of the game plan was Doncaster have conceded more than 50% of their goals since the turn of the year on crosses, putting the ball in the box.
02:16 We put three crosses in, in the first 20 minutes of the game. Three. Are we trying to win this game or not?
02:22 So for me, nowhere near aggressive enough within our play.
02:26 It's very rare that we've come, especially at home, we come away from a game having not scored. We seem to be scoring lots of goals this season.
02:33 And do you think if we'd scored early on, we'd go on to win this game? Is that another thing that perhaps would have given the lads a lot more confidence, do you think?
02:40 Yeah, but if me auntie had wheels, she'd be a shopping trolley.
02:48 There's no point talking about ifs, buts and maybes. What's if we'd have scored? But we didn't score.
02:54 And I said to the boys at half-time, if we don't score, it's going to be a hard graft for the defenders.
03:02 Because all the time it's 0-0, you can feel, because they've got good quality at the top of the pitch, you can see with their goal.
03:10 He's a good player, the kid who plays wide left. And all the time it's 0-0, you can see something dropping for them.
03:17 So don't make it 0-0 for long, go on score please. But we're kind of fluffy at the top of the pitch, too nice.
03:24 We've got opportunities to bounce back from this, we're obviously straight back in action on Monday.
03:30 I suppose the message to the players is we can't perform like that again because we'll be coming away with nothing.
03:35 And very quickly, as you say, these hopes of getting promoted are going to be sliding away from us.
03:40 So how do you approach the next few days with the group?
03:43 We have to recover first and foremost and regroup.
03:51 And probably debrief it. But we can't play in that manner.
03:57 We've got to try and finish teams off. And we didn't today.
04:03 At the end, I played with seven forwards at the end.
04:08 Why are we going out of control football? Because we're chasing a deficit and we're out of control.
04:15 We played with three forwards in Adam Campbell, Dan Orsi and Lolas.
04:21 And we played with two number 10s in Rawls and Liam Kelly.
04:26 And we played with two really high wingers in Kellan and Nick Cirulla.
04:31 So we played with seven up front in the end because we're chasing a deficit.
04:35 But we can't be playing out of control football like that because we don't do our job properly in the first half.
04:40 Like I say, first 20 minutes we put three crosses in the box. How are we supposed to win a game?
04:44 We're too nice. We're too nice and we've got to be more aggressive.
04:49 Listen, nice people don't win championships, don't win titles, don't win promotions.
04:53 Nice people end up mid-table.
04:56 We've got to show our teeth a little bit more than we did today.
04:59 Is it ideal that we have a game so soon after? Obviously the Easter turnaround is always very tight.
05:05 I know a lot of managers tend to say that after a loss they want to get back out there straight away and put things right. Is that the case?
05:10 Yeah. Yeah, I wish the game was tomorrow. I really do because we have to put that right today.
05:16 The bumper crowd, the fans are fantastic. Great crowd.
05:21 We didn't give them enough to cheer about today. So I apologise for that.
05:25 But we've got to do better. We've got to do more. We're in a great position, right?
05:29 I just said to the players, you're lucky. You're really lucky because everyone around us is drawn or lost.
05:34 So you're really lucky. So you get another bite of the cherry on Monday.
05:39 So let's take that bite this time.
05:41 Take the bite. And we've obviously been fantastic on the road. So that's a lot of confidence to take into that, isn't it?
05:45 Obviously, as you say, disappointing to lose in front of a bumper crowd today.
05:48 But the performances on the road this season have been there. So we've just got to look back and bring their forwards with us, haven't we?
05:54 It doesn't matter whether you're home or away because this time of the season, we've got to win games.
05:57 And it doesn't make no difference. We've got to attack this game now on Monday. Simple.
06:02 Obviously, there's going to be a negative reaction from the crowd and the fans straight after the game.
06:09 There's still so much to play for and it's only one game, isn't it?
06:12 So there's so much positivity going into the last seven games of the season now.
06:16 No, listen, I'm disappointed. We're all disappointed.
06:19 There's negativity with me now in this interview because I feel that it was a chance missed.
06:24 But come tomorrow, I'll be over it and I'll be ready and getting prepared for another tough game.
06:35 We're in a good position still. I think we're lucky. I think we're really lucky because of the results.
06:40 And the next three games always looked tough on paper, three away games.
06:45 Does it look a little bit tougher now because of the players?
06:47 No, they're all tough. Every game you play, like Mansfield away, Doncaster at home, it's the same.
06:53 They're all tough. I hear people all the time and people ring me and say,
06:58 "You need to win in this game because that game is going to be hard."
07:01 I'm like, "What on earth are you talking about?" They're all really, really hard.
07:05 It doesn't make no difference when we pick the points up. We've just got to pick them up.
07:09 It makes no difference if it's Mansfield away, if it's Doncaster at home.
07:14 They're all really hard games. People need to understand that.
07:17 And how pleased will you be to be back on the touchline on Monday?
07:21 I might not be yet. I might stay up in the stands. I've really enjoyed the last two games being up there.
07:26 I've been calm. I think it's easy to see the shape from when you're up above.
07:33 So it might be something that I carry on.
07:35 Okay, that's interesting. And were there any positives you can take from any performances today?
07:40 Yes, of course there's positives you can take from performances.
07:44 I think that there were players out there that did well.
07:49 I'm not saying that everybody did poorly because I don't think that was the case at all.
07:53 I think that there were players out there who had done well.
07:55 But collectively we're a team and collectively we've just got to beat 2-0 by Doncaster at home.
08:00 And I think it's been a missed opportunity.
08:02 Like I said, I thought we were fluffy and nice at the top of the pitch
08:05 and I thought we were really, really poor in one moment defensively.
08:10 The second goal, I don't know what Corey's...
08:14 I haven't seen it back so I don't really want to comment on that.
08:17 But we were shoving players forward at that moment.
08:20 Like I say, we were playing with seven forwards at that stage.
08:23 It kind of happens when you're doing that.
08:26 You sometimes do concede late on through shoving players forward.
08:31 But listen, we'll dust ourselves down and we'll go again.
08:34 Thanks, Scott.
08:35 A positive really, Scott.
08:40 It's just gone through my mind.
08:42 I hope it helps but this is not the decider.
08:46 What I mean is it didn't all rest on this and you can move on and you've got to get them quickly.
08:52 So that is all positive really.
08:55 I've just said to the players in there, I think you're really lucky.
08:57 I think you're lucky because the results have gone for you in many ways.
09:02 A lot of teams have drawn or lost.
09:04 I don't think anyone's won around us.
09:06 Apart from probably Barra. I think Barra won, didn't they?
09:09 But they're kind of probably out of the reach of where we want to get to.
09:15 But certainly the teams who are trying to get in that seventh place have dropped points today.
09:19 As have we, which is disappointing.
09:22 But I think we're lucky.
09:23 They're feeling it as well. Those teams around you are feeling it too.
09:27 Listen, before today with the eight games to go, are we going to win every game?
09:36 Let's hope so, right?
09:37 Obviously we've lost today but let's hope we are.
09:40 But there is going to be probably between now and the end of the season still some ups and downs.
09:44 It's football. It is but we're still in a really good position.
09:48 But I thought that we missed an opportunity today.
09:51 I really believe we've missed an opportunity today.
09:53 think the players really grabbed this game with both hands today like they should have done in my opinion.