SYMPATHY FOR THE RED DEVILS
ACCRINGTON heaped more misery on Crawley – and boss John Coleman admits he’s been in exactly the same situation in which counterpart Mark Yates currently finds himself.
A Luke Rooney red card changed the game, as the hugely impressive Josh Windass scored from the resulting spotkick before Matt Crooks netted a beauty on the cusp of half-time.
Billy Kee added a third late in the second half as Accrington condemned the Red Devils to their fourth straight defeat.
The home side were booed off at the end of both halves amid chants of “sacked in the morning” aimed at manager Yates.
And Coleman, whose side are now six games unbeaten, admitted his side benefitted from Rooney’s poor tackle and offered sympathy for his opposite in the dugout.
He said:“I feel for Mark, everything that can go against them is. He’s looking to go in at half-time ready to galvanise them for a second-half onslaught and all of a sudden he’s coming in two down and down to ten men in the space of two minutes.
“I’ve been there myself and when things are going wrong for you it just seems like it is one problem after another.
“He’s a good manager and he’s a good fella, and I’m sure he will get them going again.
“They need a little bit of luck and we got that luck here. It was a professional performance and we have to remember it was 0-0 after 44 minutes.”
Crawley held their own early as Jon Ashton failed to properly connect to a Sonny Bradley flick on. After an even half, the match swung towards the visitors when Rooney took out Windass from behind in the box to see red – to compound a dreadful personal performance.
Windass jumped up and dispatched his penalty into the bottom left corner, with a finish his dad Dean would be proud of, for his fifth goal of the season.
A minute later Crooks killed off the game with a 25yard curling effort.
After half-time the hosts had their best opportunity as Chris Walton thrashed a half-volley whiskers wide, before Freddie Woodman got out quickly to block Windass’s one-on-one chance at the other end. But Kee added the gloss with a brilliant turn, control and shot in the box in the last minute.
And Yates insists he’s still the right man for the job ahead of a must-win clash with fellow strugglers Newport.
Yates said:“I totally understand the supporters.
“Everyone expects things to go well, and I’m the same I expect things to be better than they are and I understand their frustrations.
“But I still believe I’m the man to turn this around and we’re only early in the season.We’ll continue to work hard.
“The players were saying ‘if Jon Ashton scores’ but it isn’t about ifs, it’s about making it now. “They’re high on confidence and we’re low on confidence coming into the game but we held our own.”