Goal-hero Ollie has Red Devils bouncing
CRAWLEY head coach Gabriele Cioffi was delighted as his team bounced back in style.
Late goals from Luke Gambin and Ollie Palmer gave the Reds their fourth successive home victory and proved the perfect response to the 3-1 midweek defeat at Notts County.
Former Lincoln striker Palmer now has seven goals this season and Cioffi has won all three of his home games since replacing Harry Kewell.
Italian Cioffi, 43, part of Gianfranco Zola`s coaching staff during his time in charge of Birmingham, said: “It`s Ollie`s job and we need to support him. A winning team is due to balance.
“A positive momentum brings about winning and when you are safe you are more relaxed.”
Cambridge head coach Joe Dunne admitted it was “hard to make sense”of his side’s losing run after a fifth defeat in six games.
He said: “I’m desperately disappointed about the result. It’s a results business and we should be higher up the league.
“It hasn`t clicked. It is hard to make sense of but results are results.”
Crawley scored their two goals in a six-minute spell and Dunne confessed: “It’s tough to take. I’m not sure how those two have ended up in the net.
“We dominated them, were better for long periods and we could have scored three or four.”
Crawley keeper Glenn Morris was called into action as Cambridge produced an early threat.
Morris kept out a goal-bound header from Liam O’Neil before he superbly tipped over a 25-yard effort from George Maris. Morris did well again to dive at the feet of the on-rushing Jevani Brown after a clever ball by Reggie Lamb.
Crawley continued to live dangerously after the restart and Morris parried shots from Ade Azeez and O’Neil in quick succession.
The hosts first shot on target did not arrive until the 62nd minute when an effort from skipper Filipe Morais was parried by David Forde.
But they broke the deadlock nine minutes later when midfielder Gambin, on loan from Luton, fired home left-footed to the left of keeper Forde.
Top-scorer Palmer doubled the advantage after 77 minutes, beating Forde from the edge of the area.