PALMER’S HOT STUFF AS TOWN TRIUMPH
CRAWLEY Town boss Harry Kewell believes his side’s opening day victory at Cheltenham Town can give their confidence a major lift.
Debutant Ollie Palmer’s second-half header sealed the points for Crawley, with Cheltenham missing the chance to level from the penalty spot 10 minutes later.
“What pleased us most was to come off a hard pre-season and to come to a Cheltenham side who we lost to twice last season and get a result,” Kewell said. “It will hopefully give my players a lot of confidence to move forward.
“I thought their penalty was going to happen. I could see it coming with the balls they were putting into the box, and one or two decisions the ref was giving. It was always going to be a tough opening day game for us, and the heat played a big part.
“In the first half, we dominated possession in midfield and we created a lot of chances, which I was pleased about.
“In the second, we controlled it again, got our goal, but then sat back a bit. But full credit to my players. We’ve done well to get a goal from a set-piece.
“We survived a penalty and I thought we should have had one as well – and we’ve shown toughness and ruggedness to hold out.”
Cheltenham boss Gary Johnson said his side could have no complaints about the result.
“They (Crawley) deserved it overall. It was a poor first half and we didn’t get to grips with their game.
“We managed to hang on in there with a couple of good saves from Scotty (Flinders) and one chance where Alex Addai put Manny Duku in and that was a good save by their goalkeeper. Unfortunately, in the second half we didn’t create a lot of chances, but we did create a penalty and missed it, which was disappointing.
“There is a bit to do and these players are better than what we’ve seen today so hopefully we can bring it out of them as soon as we can. Our midfield didn’t really create enough opportunities for the forwards.”
Crawley made the stronger start against a Cheltenham team including eight debutants. Dominic Poleon was denied by Flinders, who then recovered to catch Dannie Bulman’s follow-up header in the fourth minute.
Felipe Morais set up Poleon two minutes later, but Flinders saved again.
Cheltenham’s first chance came in the 15th minute when Alex Addai played in Manny Duku, but Glenn Morris blocked with his legs.
The breakthrough came in the 63rd minute when former Lincoln City target man Palmer headed in Morais’ corner from the right. Cheltenham got a penalty in the 72nd minute after a foul by Romain Vincelot on substitute Kalvin Kalala, but Kevin Dawson’s effort hit the bar and went over.