Mark Connolly on …
A massive result against the league leaders –
“The boys dug deep and you know at the end there we could have had another goal or two on the break. I felt they only had a couple of clear-cut chances. We dug deep and it showed that on our day we can beat any side in the league.
The organisation and commitment of the team –
That was down to Phil (Filipe Morais) and Jimmy (Smith) who set us up that way. They did a lot of planning for this game, we didn’t want the game to be written off before the new Head Coach starts on Monday. Everyone was organised, we stayed in shape and when we had to at the end we dealt with their long balls and physicality.
The tackle on him which saw Lee Frecklington sent off –
I’m just thankful that I didn’t have my foot planted otherwise it would have been broken.
As it is, it has swollen up so it’s packed in ice but it should settle down fine in the next few days. Thankfully I could play on and help the boys grind out a clean sheet against a side who score goals for fun.
His new central defensive partnership with Bondz N’Gala –
I’m enjoying it. Bondz hasn’t played much recently but he kept himself in shape in the summer - he’s looked after himself and he’s a great defender.
We’ve got Joe Mac (McNerney) coming on at the end and winning headers too. There is great competition for places there and everyone wants their team-mates to do well which is the most important thing.
A new era starting under Gabriele Cioffi on Monday -
Since the old manager left it’s been tough. Phil and Jimmy have done brilliant but now we go on Monday with a new Head Coach who was watching from the stand and hopefully saw what a good squad we’ve got. He will have new ideas and a new culture but I know he wants togetherness and if Crawley Town are going to succeed that is something we need and I think we showed on Saturday have. It’s exciting times and we’re looking forward to it.
