Boss Yems buoyed by four-goal Red Devils
JOHN YEMS hopes Crawley’s comfortable victory over Northampton sent out a message ahead of their trip to Grimsby.
New head coach Yems felt his side’s 4-0 win was a “start” as he celebrated his first victory in four attempts since taking the helm.
The Reds had only won one league game since mid-September and Yems admitted: “You could feel the relief to get this win.
“Hopefully the crowd will be back in numbers. Hopefully I’ll get the opportunity to take the club forward.
“Hopefully this is a start and we have sent out a message that teams will need to work twice as hard in games against Crawley.
“It is a start but we are not getting carried away; there are no easy sides in this division.”
Asked if this was a sign of what Crawley can do, Yems replied: “I won’t look at the table until April, but in the last four games we have had three clean sheets and let in only two goals.”
The match got the go-ahead after two pitch inspections and Crawley started on the front foot with Ollie Palmer forcing keeper Steve Arnold to make a low save, before the recalled frontman Ashley Nadesan had a shot blocked. Crawley took the lead in superb style with midfielder Nathan Ferguson rifling his fifth goal of the season from a tight angle in the 25th minute.
Lubala doubled the lead just past the hour mark, with a low shot into the corner.
The hosts continued to press and Palmer fired wide, before a fierce shot by Ferguson was parried by Arnold.
Palmer made it 3-0 after 81 minutes when he scored at the near post following a cross by substitute Mason Bloomfield.
Bloomfield was on hand to add the fourth three minutes later after a defensive mistake by Scott Wharton.
Northampton boss Keith Curle rued his side’s defensive performance.
He said: “We didn’t do what we are good at. We were not doing basic defending in keeping the man in front of you and goal-side.
“We looked fragmented.
“It was a game that didn’t suit us, but we are back at home next and we are confident when we know what we are doing.”