JG expecting positive response at Vale Park
John Gregory is banking on Reds to put a bad week behind them and start April with a win.
Crawley go to the scene of their first ever Football League game on Tuesday night when we take on Port Vale at Vale Park, kick off 7.45pm.
Reds have been based in Cheshire since Friday to cut down on travelling and after a team meal on Saturday and a ten pin bowling afternoon on Sunday they were back at work on Monday to prepare for a tough game against Micky Adams’ side.
John said: “Three defeats in a week has obviously dented pride a bit, although apart from the first half at Oldham I can’t complain about our performance levels.
“We could have got something out of all three games but there’s no use dwelling on that now. The schedule for us is tough but the positive is that we do get another chance to get a result quite quickly and the next one comes on Tuesday.”
Vale are comfortably in mid-table after an excellent first season since gaining promotion and they bounced back from last week’s 5-0 mauling at Bristol City by gaining a point from a 1-1 draw at Stevenage on Saturday.
JG added: “It is another toughie, that’s for sure. Micky’s teams all work tremendously hard and they have a prolific scorer in Pope.
“But the pitch is always good and it’s a big playing area too so that might help us. We need to get back to winning ways again soon. We have 10 games left which is nearly a quarter of the season and there is no way I will allow the season to fizzle out. The boys know that too and I am sure we will see a positive response on Tuesday night. That means taking the game to Port Vale and hopefully scoring a few goals.
"We also owe it to the fans who are coming up. They have had a lot of travelling and expense in the last couple of weeks and if we can send them home happy I will be delighted."
John hopes to have both Matt Tubbs and Paul Connolly available after they missed Saturday’s 1-0 defeat at Preston through injury, but Kyle McFadzean completes a two-match ban.
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