Boldewijn the hero as Reds hold firm

HARRY Kewell refused to be drawn on the controversy on the pitch as his ten-man Crawley side narrowly beat Stevenage at the Broadfield Stadium.

Dutchman Enzio Boldewijn scored the game’s only goal in the 33rd minute to consign Stevenage to an eighth straight away defeat.

But shortly after the breakthrough his teammate Josh Payne was shown a straight red by referee John Busby for a foul on Alex Samuel, even though he seemed to win the ball in the challenge.

From then on, the Stevenage winger was consistently jeered by the home fans as he appeared to fall to the ground every time he was tackled, eventually being substituted in the 72nd minute for Jamie Gray.

Asked about Samuel’s tactics, Kewell was diplomatic and had a smile on his face when he said: “Wingers? They are all divers.

“It’s part and parcel of the game that players use their bodies to get into a position to try and win the ball and the referee has to make the right decision.”

His mood was easy to understand for, after Boldewijn had scored from close range for his fourth goal of the season, his side dug deep to take all three points out of the match.

They had opened brightly with Boldewijn making one incredible solo run from the edge of his own area only to shoot weekly at Joe Fryer at the other end of the pitch.

But after the red card, and with only Jordan Roberts playing up front, Crawley never looked likely to double their goal tally and Stevenage, blotted out by central defenders Josh Yorwerth and Mark Connolly, rarely threatened to equalise.

Although after half time he did save two shots that were hit straight at him from Joe Martin and Ben Kennedy, it was not until the 87th minute that home goalkeeper Glenn Morris had to go full stretch to miraculously keep out a close range header from Stevenage’s Matt Gooden, who looked on target to score. And underfire Stevenage boss Darren Sarll knows his side need to improve when playing on the road, although thankfully for their fans their next game does come at home to Cheltenham Town on Monday.

He said: “That game typifies the way we way are playing away from home at the moment.

“We have been great at home for the last twoand-a-half months but this run is something we have got to get out of.

“Here we should have created more opportunities and more attempts on goal.”