Matt Pole is joined by Brighton writer Derren Howard, Crawley Town expert Mark Dunford and Sam Morton, who covers both Albion and the Reds.
Brighton produced a superb fightback to come from two goals down and beat Tottenham in a Premier League thriller at the Amex on Sunday.
We’ll pick over the bones of Albion’s 3-2 victory against Ange Postecoglou’s men, plus we’ll bring you all the latest from Rob Elliot’s first two games in charge of Crawley Town.
You can read all the stories we are talking about with videos and pictures online at SussexWorld.co.uk/sport
Brighton produced a superb fightback to come from two goals down and beat Tottenham in a Premier League thriller at the Amex on Sunday.
We’ll pick over the bones of Albion’s 3-2 victory against Ange Postecoglou’s men, plus we’ll bring you all the latest from Rob Elliot’s first two games in charge of Crawley Town.
You can read all the stories we are talking about with videos and pictures online at SussexWorld.co.uk/sport
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SportsTranscript
00:00Welcome to another episode of the Goalmouth Action Podcast, where we take a look at all
00:04the latest goings-on at Brighton, Hove, Abbeydon and Crawley Town. I'm Matt Pole,
00:08and I'm joined by Brighton writer Darren Howard, Crawley Town expert Mark Dunford,
00:12as well as Sam Morton, who covers both Abbeydon and the Reds. Brighton produced a superb fight
00:17back to come from two goals down and beat Tottenham in a Premier League thriller at the
00:20Amex on Sunday. We'll pick over the bones of Abbeydon's 3-2 victory against Anj Poster-Coggley's
00:25men, plus we'll bring you all the latest from Rob Elliott's first two games in charge of Crawley
00:29Town. You can read all the stories we are talking about with videos and pictures online at
00:33sussexwell.co.uk forward slash sport, and you can check out other great videos on shotstv.com and
00:39freeview channel 262. You may also be watching on latest TV, so thank you very much for tuning in,
00:44but starting at the Amex, second-half goals from Jankuba Minter, Jorginho Ritter and Danny Welbeck
00:50saw Abbeydon fight back against Spurs on Sunday. I believe you were at the Amex,
00:54Mr Morton. If you can, sum that game up for us, please.
01:00Yeah, it was another thrilling game involving Brighton following the game at Stamford Bridge.
01:05It was another goal fest. This one, Brighton obviously came out on top and it was a really
01:09enjoyable game. The first half was a bit of a disaster once again for Brighton, a bit like
01:14Stamford Bridge, where Spurs just really looked like they were going to score every time they
01:20attacked. It was one of those days for Brighton where they once again were missing Van Hecke
01:25in the defence. Adam Webster was kept in the team alongside Lewis Dunk, but Webster did
01:31golf with an early injury. Igor replaced him. It was much the same, really. They weren't quite
01:37at ease defensively and Spurs looked like they could score every time they went forward, as I
01:42say. They got a couple of goals and it looked like the game was dead and buried, to be honest.
01:48But Brighton came out a completely different team in the second half. It was a remarkable
01:53turnaround, really. Jan-Cooper Minter got the goal they really needed right at the start of
01:58the second half after a mistake by Destini Udovi at the back. It didn't take long. It was only 10
02:04minutes later for Jorginho Rutter to score from a pass from Karim Moutoma, who was my man of the
02:09match. I think he was superb, even in the first half. Moutoma was the biggest threat for Brighton
02:13and he really did come to life, especially in that second half as well. Got the assist for Rutter
02:18and then Rutter once again showed some very tenacious play on the right-hand side,
02:22battled his way past a few Spurs defenders and then crossed it in for Danny Welbeck to head in
02:27the winnow. It was an awesome game, really. That kind of atmosphere and everything. That third
02:32goal winning was among the best highlights of my time covering Brighton, really. It was
02:37an excellent occasion, a superb comeback that really was needed in the circumstances.
02:43It was a really enjoyable game.
02:45I can imagine completely, Sam. New boy Rutter, you spoke about him,
02:48he netted his second Albion goal in as many games against Spurs.
02:52Darren, is the Frenchman beginning to justify the club record £40m fee that
02:56Albion paid Leeds in the summer? I know there were quite a lot of question marks over that fee.
03:01Yes, there have been. I thought it was a bit harsh, to be honest. Obviously,
03:07they did pay a lot of money for him, £10m more than they paid for
03:10Jal Pedro when he joined from Watford in 2023. There were a few question marks and there were
03:19a few snap judgements, especially after his home debut against Ipswich. I did a piece yesterday on
03:25it where I thought on his debut he played quite well against Ipswich. He had a couple of chances
03:32and it didn't quite go their way. He became the scapegoat for a lot of fans, for the back-to-back
03:40draws against Ipswich and against Nottingham Forest. I always quite liked him. I thought
03:47there were encouraging signs from him. I was really pleased to see him. It was a mad game
03:51at Chelsea where they lost 4-2. I was really pleased to see him get off the mark against
03:57Chelsea. He carried that good form into the Tottenham game. Every major player, when you come
04:03in to a club for a big-money move, they need to make a statement early on. I think that was his
04:09game where he actually laid down a marker and showed the fans that this is what I can do.
04:15I've got the class to finish the goals. His goal was very nice. It was a well-taken effort with
04:22his left foot. I think he also showed that not only has he got the class to take those
04:28types of chances and a ruthless finish, but he's going to work for the team tirelessly as well.
04:35I like the fact that when he got that assist for Danny Welbeck, the crowd were going mad.
04:40Everybody was jumping on Danny Welbeck. Lewis Dunk made a point of ignoring all the celebrations
04:45for Welbeck, went over to Rutter and really showed his appreciation for what he'd done.
04:52I think you can tell the way he's integrated into the team, the way the teammates have taken to him.
04:59I think they like him. They know they've got a player on their hands. Danny Welbeck's nicknamed
05:04him Velcro because the ball always sticks to him. He does so much good work in a build-up play.
05:11That's why they brought him in. You look at his goals record over his career at Leeds.
05:16He wasn't prolific, but his assist rate was incredible while he was at Leeds.
05:22Now he's adding goals to his game as well as that build-up play.
05:26I think that was a major performance from Rutter and one that would help them not only cover the
05:32loss of Jao Pedro while he's injured, but will be a big player for Brighton going forward this season.
05:38He showed great personality as well, didn't he? Because he was probably at fault for that
05:41first goal when he was robbed off the ball. He kind of felt a lot of players might
05:48suffer from that and maybe put their heads down a bit. But you never would tell from his performance
05:51after that, the confidence he showed to dribble with the ball. He wasn't put off and didn't want
05:55to get rid of the ball. He was still taking players on. It was a joy to watch really and
06:01getting a goal and an assist, he more than made up for the little error at the start.
06:12He's a really chilled out, happy, smiley guy as well. I'm really pleased for him.
06:20Yeah, he's probably happy and smiley after living in Leeds for a prolonged amount of time,
06:23so good on him. I don't think I'd be particularly happy.
06:27You mentioned that he set up Welbeck's goal and that goal against Spurs was his 71st in the
06:31Premier League, moving him ahead of Man United icon Eric Cantona, which I was quite surprised
06:36about. I just assumed that Cantona would have scored more. But he's looking indispensable,
06:40isn't he, Sam, at the moment? He's been class this season, Welbeck.
06:44Absolutely brilliant, yeah. He seems to have had a second win because I think probably a lot of
06:48people would have expected him to maybe have a bit more of an impact side role this season,
06:54because obviously with the signings that Brighton have made, especially in those attacking areas,
06:58you probably would have been surprised to see that Welbeck started every single game
07:03so far. But he's got four goals in seven games, which has more than justified that. He's been
07:09definitely one of the star players so far this season. It just shows that he's still got class
07:14and he really is making a huge difference in key moments. His goal against Spurs put him second in
07:20the all-time Premier League charts for goals for Brighton, so he's just behind Pascal Gross now.
07:26He was obviously there to watch the action as well against Spurs, which is really nice as well,
07:29and it's great to see him back and watch on as Welbeck edges a little bit closer to his tally.
07:36But he's quickly become the cult hero for Brighton, as I say, at Welbeck. He's just so
07:42important and it doesn't seem to matter who they sign, he still remains that vital
07:47cog of that attacking unit. He's been obviously able to help the younger players so much as well
07:52with his experience, so I think it's been brilliant to keep him at the club for as long as they have
07:57done. He's been a brilliant player for them. Speaking of the game, you said he wasn't happy
08:01obviously with the first half, but he was happy to obviously get that comeback in the second half.
08:07He's obviously been in the league since he was very young and he's always been able to help the
08:11players. He's on four goals this season and he wants more, so he's definitely showing no signs
08:15of slowing down, which is really great to see. I'm going to out you as a Man United fan now,
08:21Sam Morton. I don't know if we've ever revealed that on the podcast before.
08:27Do you think he's playing better football than he did when he was at Man United and Arsenal?
08:31I think so. I think he's developed as a Premier League striker. I think he's obviously still
08:36very raw when he was at Man United. Obviously, the talent that Man United had at the time when
08:40he was at the club was incredible. He's obviously fighting for competition, fighting for places and
08:45everything like that. I think as time has gone on, the experience he now has under his belt,
08:49he's the best he's ever been. I think he really is in the form of his career.
08:53He's saying he's fit as well, isn't he? He's having a run where he's fit as well. When he
08:57was at Arsenal, they couldn't keep him fit. I think this is a good run for him. At Watford,
09:02he struggled with his fitness, but now he's had his injury troubles at Brighton. But I think this
09:07season in particular, he's looked so sharp, so fit. Yeah, they're getting the benefits of it.
09:13Yeah, I think no one's going to get in over Kane, is it? That's the problem. I think any
09:18England striker, even Watkins and Ivan Toni have struggled to get any regular minutes for England.
09:23I think Kane's obviously that man and does that role. So I think it doesn't seem to matter how
09:27well the England strikers do. I think Kane's obviously the man. But yeah, I definitely
09:31wouldn't be adverse to it if he did get an opportunity before the end of his career.
09:35Absolutely. And I don't think that's a terrible shout either, because he's clearly got the
09:38experience, hasn't he, Danny Wuerlbeck? And he'll clearly do a good job around the younger players.
09:42So yeah, I'd be happy with that, Mr Carsley. Next England manager.
09:49We've spoken a lot about the players, Darren, in the Spurs game, but how much credit does
09:53Hazela deserve for instigating such an astonishing turnaround? It's probably all well and good of us
09:58saying this now after they'd won, but at half-time, I imagine quite a few knives were out, I imagine.
10:04Yes, it was a big test for him. As we mentioned, they'd drawn two or two on the bounce against
10:10teams where they should have got probably three points against, which are not in the forest. So
10:16morale was a bit low. Then they went to Chelsea and just had that chaotic,
10:21you know, disastrous defensive display at Stamford Bridge. And I think they still had a,
10:27you know, that was still on their minds. They were still having a bit of a hangover from that
10:31Chelsea display into the Tottenham. And when they went 2-0 down, it would have been easy for them to
10:36say, oh, you know, this just really isn't working out. And they could have collapsed. It could have
10:41been, it could have been a bad time for Hazela. I guess, you know, no matter what you say at
10:48half-time in those instances, he was saying, you know, just trust the process, win your small
10:54gains, win your personal jewels, and the rest will follow. And you could say that as much as you like,
11:00but to get that goal straight after half-time was huge for him when Minta, his first goal of the
11:07season as well for Brighton in the Premier League, to get that early goal just got everybody back up
11:12again and gave them belief. The crowd then were on their side and it really helped to lift them.
11:19So as much as Hazela may have said a few things at half-time, just they needed that bit of luck
11:26as well, or that bit of fortune that went their way when, was it Ndogi, Sam, the Tottenham defender,
11:32he tried to clear it and it ricocheted to Minta. Yeah, that was a lucky break and to get that goal
11:42and that could now give them the catalyst and the confidence to go on and really give them a boost.
11:48And with some of the injured players now coming back, they've got a week or so now to get,
11:53the likes of Soli March, Van Geck, Jal Pedro, hopefully to get back in contention and they can
11:59really attack this next period of the season after the international break starting at Newcastle
12:05with a lot of confidence. So yeah, that was a big, big moment for Hazela. And I think, as you say,
12:10the knives were not coming out, but there were a few question marks being raised. So yeah, big moment.
12:19Last question for Brighton before we go into part two. As Deren mentioned, we now go into
12:24the October international break and Brighton 6-6 in the Premier League after taking 12 points from
12:29seven games. How would you rate Albion's season so far, Sam? Deren's kind of mentioned that it's been
12:36quite flat up until recently, I suppose, until the Tottenham game. How would you assess it?
12:41Yeah, it's been a bizarre one, hasn't it? Because it started so well in August and obviously Hazela
12:46got the manager of the month and it all started brilliantly. I think you made the comment,
12:52Matt, didn't you? That's kind of cursed him a little bit in the coming weeks and months. And
12:56that did seem to happen. I think we all feared a repeat of what we saw so often in recent seasons
13:02in those games against Ipswich and Forest, where they dropped those points at home in games they
13:07should be winning. And we really did see that once again. And obviously that game at Chelsea
13:13raised more questions about the high line, which we again saw in the early stages against Spurs.
13:18I think literally a minute into the game, I think Brendan Johnson nearly scored
13:21from where Brighton, playing the high line, the offside trap didn't work. And then I think it
13:26was a slightly better ball from Werner would have meant a goal even earlier for Spurs in the game.
13:32So, yeah, there's definitely still some question marks. You do wonder if they've got the players
13:36in defence that suits the style of that high line at the moment. So you wonder maybe he might look
13:42to bring in some extra reinforcements defensively in future transfer windows and that kind of thing.
13:48But as we've seen in modern day football, I think managers are very stubborn, aren't they?
13:52If they've got a set way of playing, they want it to work and want to get the players to learn that
13:55way of playing. And it will take time. I think with Hudson being a young coach, young manager,
14:01so I feel like hopefully it will improve as the season goes on. But you just hope that if it does
14:05continue and they are still having these problems defensively, then he does adjust it a little bit
14:10to what he has. And that will really show kind of his now as a manager and obviously he'll be
14:16learning on the job all the time. So, yeah, you hope that he's not as stubborn as perhaps
14:20De Serby was in some of those key moments. Fingers crossed. Yes. Thank you very much,
14:25Chaps. We're going to take a quick break and when we come back, we're going to talk all things
14:28Crawley Town. Welcome back to part two. We're going to take a look at the latest from Crawley
14:32Town. And Rob Elliott took charge of his first Reds game on Saturday, but he couldn't mastermind
14:37a Reds win at Wycombe in League One. Fred Oyadinmu's goal was a difference between two
14:42sides as Wycombe ran out 1-0 winners. You were at Adams Park, Mark Dunford. How was it? We've
14:48spoken a lot about them not being able to put their chances away. Was it more of the same?
14:52Yeah, it was really. They dominated a game for long periods. There was still very similar to
14:58how they played under Scott Lindsay. There was a few different tweaks and actually had a couple
15:02of early chances. Will Swan had one quite early on. He's had very few chances to score since he's
15:09joined Crawley, but he had one quite early on where a keeper saved it. It was quite a tight angle,
15:15but they played well for long periods, but it just seemed a little bit disjointed.
15:18They're obviously new ideas Rob Elliott and his team are trying to put into the squad.
15:24I think it was Ronan Darcy afterwards who said that they were trying to impress,
15:32I think, and Rob Elliott said they probably tried too hard and got carried away.
15:38It was a frustrating game, but they never looked like conceding much apart from the goal. Again,
15:42it was another poor goal. It was a player unmarked, like six yards out, and that's been the same for
15:48the opening goals for the last three games. I think it's Bolton, Mansfield and then that game
15:53where the ball came in and he was just unmarked and just done an easy job tapping home. So,
15:59yeah, frustrating goal to let in, but they never looked like scoring, but never looked like
16:04conceding. So, there's promising signs there, but it was just a little bit frustrating and a little
16:12bit disjointed. But Rob Elliott said afterwards, I think, that he said if they had won 3-0,
16:18it doesn't mean that they've changed something straight away. If they'd lost 3-0,
16:23it doesn't really mean anything. It's just a start. It's just a process and they're hoping
16:29they can get their ideas in as soon rather than later. You'd only have two days to work with the
16:33players before that. So, yeah, it's no surprise that it was a little bit disjointed, but there
16:38were lots of promising signs and actually, I thought it was a little bit more attacking at
16:42times than under Scott Lindsay. So, yeah, so promising signs there. You mentioned that they're
16:48trying too hard, as Rob Elliott said. Do you agree with that? I mean, I could see it being
16:52a bit understandable for the players trying to impress their new boss. I think it was, yeah. And
16:56like I said, Ronan Darcy sort of reiterated that a little bit. There was a lot of information to
17:02take on and I think Ronan Darcy said they were all a little bit worried that were they doing
17:07the right thing for the new manager and that. So, they were obviously trying too hard to impress
17:11him and it just sort of meant that they were a little bit disjointed and it didn't flow as well
17:16as it normally does with a crawly town team. So, I think we saw more signs of it on Tuesday night.
17:23We're getting on to that, but it seemed to flow a little bit more on Tuesday night,
17:28but he's obviously had a couple more days to work with. So, come Saturday against Shrewsbury and
17:34then they've got a week off. So, hopefully come the end of next week, you'll start to see real
17:39progression in and a real identity of what a Rob Elliott side is. Absolutely. Well, you mentioned
17:45Tuesday, a much changed Crawley Town side to come to a 4-3 defeat at AFC Wimbledon, the EFL Trophy.
17:52You were also at this game as well, Sam Morton. And again, it sounded like you had a thriller.
17:57I know. I've been very lucky with goals lately. This one came out of nowhere, actually,
18:03because the first half was quite dull. I think Crawley had all the ball, passing the ball around
18:08and the fans were getting quite frustrated because they just wouldn't shoot. And there
18:11were chances for the fans just to have a go. It was quite funny. I was getting quite annoyed with
18:17somebody just shouting, shoot, shoot. Yeah, it was one of those. It was definitely not the best
18:26of first halves and Wimbledon took the lead. It was actually coming because by the time Wimbledon
18:31scored, they'd had a number of chances. James Tiddy, the former Crawley man, did start to get
18:36a lot of the ball and start to really put some pressure on the Crawley defence. And they were
18:40completely missing for the goal that Wimbledon scored. And then you kind of felt that that would
18:45spark a bit of a reaction from Crawley, but it didn't. It didn't initially. And they're actually,
18:49they got worse after the goal and they ended up conceding another two goals, three-nil down,
18:53two headers. You kind of feel the worst thing. Oh, God, it's really bad at this point. Obviously,
18:58there's three-nil to your rivals in the lead below. And it was a strong team in Crawley as
19:02well. So, yeah, even though it's not the most important competition, it's a game they still
19:05would have wanted to win, get the confidence going again. But that third goal seemed to just
19:10spark a bit of life into Crawley and they suddenly reacted, made some subs and Ronan Darcy and Jeremy
19:16Kelly in particular came on and Armando as well. And all of them had a really big impact on the
19:20match. They were all guns blazing, really, going forward and relentlessly attacking,
19:25and shooting every opportunity. And they managed to bring it back to three-all. And it did really
19:31come out of nowhere. And it felt like it could be four-three, five-three because of the amount of
19:34chances they had. It was incredible. But after getting that equaliser and you felt like, oh,
19:39yeah, there are only one team that's going to win this, Wimbledon started to be a threat on
19:43the counter-attack again. And you kind of felt like there was a chance that they might nick it.
19:47And they did. It was a cracking goal from Piggott in off the crossbar. And it was, yeah, a shame for
19:54it to end that way, really, after such a brilliant comeback to lose out in the end. But yeah, loads
19:59of positive signs that they can obviously score a goal again, because it seemed that such a long
20:03time since they scored a goal. So to get three, to show the fighting spirit to come back from
20:07three-nil down, I think there's definitely some positives to take, but obviously, yeah,
20:10some defensive issues to iron out. Yeah, you mentioned the positives. You would imagine, Sam,
20:15that Rob Elliott would have been so pleased with the players and character and spirit to be three-nil
20:19down, and then to bring it so close to getting something out of the game.
20:23Yeah, exactly that. Yeah, he was speaking to us post-match, and he said there are a lot of
20:26positives to take. Obviously, clear things we need to fix. But over the last two games, we've got to
20:31get a good idea of the squad and the team. Coming back from three goals down shows a lot of character.
20:36We just need to find our feet and understand that if we keep doing the right thing and stay
20:40consistent, then really we have a lot of ability and a lot of attacking options. So yeah, he said
20:45it's just about developing the players, but also finding out how they're going to get the best out
20:48of them. He wants to see free-flowing attacking football, but they also need to get a bit leaner
20:53and an understanding of how they negate a poor start to the second half as well. So yeah, I was
20:59really impressed, actually, by the way that Rob Elliott spoke. It was the first time I'd met him
21:02after the game. He came across really well. He's, yeah, I think very, very astute, and I think he's
21:10definitely going to try and get the best out of the players that he's got, and hopefully he can
21:13do that quickly, because obviously it's getting a bit concerning points-wise. He did say that
21:18performances are more important than points at the moment, than wins, I should say. But when you
21:23look at that table, I think he's going to be quietly concerned about maybe the lack of points
21:29at the moment. So I think that's definitely going to be the big thing in the next few games, just to
21:35get the confidence back and get some points on the board. Absolutely, and starting this Saturday,
21:39the Reds entertain Shrewsbury in League One, which will take a little bit more of a look in
21:43depth in a minute. But the Reds are suffering a bit of a goalkeeping crisis, aren't they,
21:46at the moment, Mark? What's the story here? Yeah, so I wrote a piece the other day.
21:53At the start of the season, they had four goalkeepers. So you had Jojo Wallachot, Eddie
21:58Beach came in on loan from Chelsea, Ryan Sanford, Jasper Schaik. And yeah, come this week, they've
22:04had to get an emergency loan in because two of them are injured, Beach and Ryan Sanford. Ryan
22:08Sanford's long-term, I think he's got an ACL. Jasper Schaik had gone out on loan to Whitehawk,
22:15young goalkeeper, he's only 19. He was at Three Bridges last year. By all accounts,
22:19very impressive, but obviously hasn't played anywhere near this level yet.
22:24And yeah, Jojo Wallachot got his international call-up. So they had to get in another,
22:30yeah, get in a goalkeeper. And they got in Conal Truman from Millwall on loan,
22:34a goalkeeper who's had a lot of injuries, hasn't played many for... Somebody was saying that he
22:38hadn't played first team football since 21, 22 season or something. So yeah, a bit of a risk,
22:44but I thought he did really well. So yeah, they had to call him in. He's only here for this,
22:49for the Wimbledon game, which he played in and two Saturdays game against Shrewsbury.
22:53And then he's due to go back to Millwall on Monday, October the 14th. So when Jojo Wallachot
22:59obviously comes back, but is, yeah, we spoke to Rob afterwards and just sort of said,
23:05what's the deal sort of thing with Jasper Schaik? And he said, it's just too early for him. They
23:10don't want to throw him in at the deep end. And then it obviously, I think they obviously trust
23:16his abilities, but it's a big step up. He's only ever played Esme in Premier. That's the highest
23:21he's ever played at. That's what, three divisions below League One, isn't it? So yeah, so they don't
23:29want to throw him in and then he gets demoralised, has a game where he's, I guess, I don't know,
23:34intimidated or whatever. So he says he's great to have around the camp and that, but they want
23:40him out playing football. So he gets more and more experience. So, cause he was at Adams Park
23:45on Saturday, but he was there, but he wasn't in the squad, which was, I thought was a bit odd.
23:49He was in the squad on Tuesday night, Jasper, but yeah, no, it's going to be interesting how
23:55they use him or what they do, because if Wallachot gets an injury, what happens then? So, I mean,
24:00fingers touched wood it doesn't happen. I'm sure it won't. But yeah, I don't know how long Eddie
24:07Beach is due out for, but Ryan Sanford, by all accounts, is out for the season. So yeah, so it's
24:12a bit of a, yeah, so there could be more emergency loans on the thing, but I'm speaking to Rob again
24:16this afternoon for the Strasboury pre-match press conference, and hopefully we'll be able to get
24:22a little bit more info. And if he's got sort of contingency plans, if there is,
24:27if they do need to call upon another emergency loan or something like that, or whether there are
24:31any keepers out there on a free that they can bring in, who knows?
24:34It would be interesting if they could bring in, sorry, carry on. No, I was going to say,
24:39it would be interesting if they could bring in Truman on a longer deal, I mean, if they do need
24:42to bring in someone else in, because I think he played really well. He made some crappy saves.
24:47You wonder what his wages are like and if they could be able to afford it. If he's not getting
24:51minutes for Millwall, he's not played in such a long time for them, you wonder if he wants to
24:55get the opportunity to play regular football. I think, yeah, he was really good, actually. I
24:59don't think he could have done anything about any of the goals and made some great saves.
25:06One thing we should add is Rob Elliott definitely isn't coming out of retirement to play.
25:10He said, when I asked him about that, he said, I couldn't think of anything worse.
25:16I think that's a firm no then, isn't it? Saturday's opponents, and we talked about
25:21Shrewsbury, they sit just one place below the Reds in the League One table.
25:24The Shrews are third from bottom, but are just two points behind Crawley. Too early to call it
25:30a six-pointer, Sam? I don't think so. I think it is. I think it's a really important game.
25:36Shrewsbury are just as bad as Crawley, really. Both haven't won since August. I think Shrewsbury
25:42have won slightly more recently than Crawley, because Crawley haven't won since the 17th of
25:47August. That's obviously when they had the great starts of the season that they did have,
25:50and it's all gone a bit wrong since then. But I think without picking up points soon,
25:55Crawley are in danger of leaving themselves cut off from the rest of the league, really,
25:59with four teams going down. That leaves a big likelihood of relegation if they're not going
26:04to get points soon. They've got five losses in a row now in all competitions, Crawley,
26:09so it's getting a little bit concerning. But positive that they were able to score
26:13against Wimbledon, get the goals going again. I was a bit surprised that Will Swann didn't
26:18take the penalty, actually, because as Mark mentioned earlier, he's not had many chances
26:21to score, and that did seem like a big one to get his first goal, to get maybe a bit of confidence.
26:26But Rowan Darcy stepped up and took it really well. So yeah, it's one of those, isn't it,
26:31where you hope that as soon as Will Swann gets one, the floodgates will open and it won't become
26:35a concern anymore. But I think it is really important that the strikers score. Hepburn
26:39Murphy was really good against Wimbledon, which is really positive. I think he'll start Saturday
26:43ahead of Swann. I think so too. I think Hepburn Murphy was brilliant against Wimbledon. He scored
26:50and could have had Hattrick, really, with the chances he had. So yeah, definitely positive
26:55signs there. But yeah, so important that Crawley win, especially against Shrewsbury,
26:59that are struggling as well. But it's a huge game for both teams. I think Shrewsbury are going to
27:03be having the same conversations. They need to get wins. They're going to be looking at Crawley
27:07as a chance to do that. So yeah, a really big game. I just hope that Crawley can get the job
27:14done. Yeah, because at the moment they are the lowest scorers in the league, Crawley. I've just
27:19looked at the table and seen that. So yeah, go and get the goals, get the confidence going and
27:23win it against Shrewsbury. We'll start the month in good stead.
27:28And it brings us very nicely into our final piece of this week's episode, Score Predictions. Just
27:31the one game as there is the October international break and it is indeed Crawley 10 against
27:35Shrewsbury. Mark, how do you see this one going?
27:39Well, like Sam said, it's a must win for Crawley and I think they will win. I'm going to go for
27:43two nil. The defence, despite leaking the odd goal here and there, always do look solid. Josh
27:49Flynn, Toby Malarkey. I don't know whether Charlie Barker will be fit after Joy McKenna got injured
27:55against Wickham. We'll hopefully get an update on that today. But the defence will be solid and I
28:01think Hepburn Murphy will score a winner, one nil.
28:04Mr. Morton, do you share in Mark Dunford's optimism?
28:08Yeah, I think so. I think it'll be 2-1. Crawley will win 2-1.
28:12You didn't sound very optimistic when you said that.
28:17Yeah, no, I'm definitely more cautiously optimistic than anything. But yeah, 2-1. I
28:22think Crawley will. They're at home advantage. Then the goals came back against Wimbledon,
28:27so hopefully they'll keep going with that on Saturday.
28:33I think they're all very fair points, Sam. And finally, Darren, do you see a Crawley win?
28:38I do, yeah. As they're at home, Shrewsbury, like you say, have been struggling as well. So yeah,
28:44I'm going to go for a two nil to Crawley for this one.
28:47Yeah, I rarely do score predictions, but I can only foresee the cagiest
28:50of cagiest nil-nil draws on Saturday, which doesn't benefit either team.
28:55But yeah, we'll have to wait and see. Best of luck to Crawley on Saturday. And you can
28:58catch up with all the latest sports news covering everything we've talked about today at
29:01satsworld.co.uk forward slash sport. And you can watch more excellent videos on shotstv.com
29:06and Freeview channel 262. Thank you very much for listening and or watching,
29:10and we will see you next week.