Cox takes plaudits in front of big crowd
DERMOT Drummy heaped praise on Dean Cox after a moment of magic proved enough.
In an often drab and dour encounter, Cox crossed for top scorer James Collins to head home the only goal of the game and inflict another defeat on Hartlepool United.
Pools have never beaten Crawley – they’ve met seven times – and the run never looked like ending.
Collins’ deft finish, heading home as he ghosted in behind a static defence, proved the difference.
Drummy said: “James has been a consistent performer and Dean (Cox) may not have played in the Football League for four or five months since he left Orient, but he’s come in and naturally does what he does – and that is to deliver quality.
“He has a certain level of performance and he lives up to that. He was blowing after an hour, so we were able to take him off. He very rarely gives the ball away when he receives it under pressure.
“He walks the walk and talks the talk.’’
This was Drummy’s third home win in a row and he cannot wait to face Portsmouth next weekend to try and make it four.
“We have kept a belief and we knew we had players to come back,” he added. “I’ve learned an awful lot here in six months and we are evolving and changing together.
“We’ve got Portsmouth here next, it’s a massive club and it makes for a fantastic game.
“We have given the supporters a taster, a look at us and hopefully they will come back.’’
The home side dropped their normal admission prices for this, instead asking for fans to pay whatever they wanted on the gate, minimum £1.
Consequently, their biggest home crowd of the season saw the win.
Chances on goal were scarce, but Collins should have scored when he lifted a header over the bar from two yards shortly before his goal.
Pools’ only chance came when Sean Kavanagh’s near-post shot was kept out.
This was their second successive 1-0 loss and boss Craig Hignett said: “We gifted them the goal, we let Dean Cox cross too easily.
“I didn’t see us losing the game in the secondhalf. We played our way into the game and got a bit better and played some decent stuff without breaking through.
“It was a decent performance, no doubt, and we probably shaded it and we said the same last week.
“We need someone who will score goals and at the minute we haven’t got that.’’