13 September 2022

It’s massive for the supporters – Crawley boss Kevin Betsy hails first win

13 September 2022

Kevin Betsy dedicated his first league win as Crawley boss to the club’s fans after a thrilling 3-2 victory at home to Stockport.

The visitors, now beaten in all four of their away league games so far this term, twice fought back to level, but Nick Tsaroulla’s strike 11 minutes after the break proved decisive.

The delighted former Arsenal Under-23s manager said: “It was our first league win and it’s a massive one for the supporters.

“It’s a big win and I’m really happy – that’s five unbeaten in all completions for us now.

“We are all working very hard to be successful and the bread and butter of the league is very important.

“This was a game when the resilience and character of the team was there for all to see.”

Betsy, who has a series of injuries to his defenders, had special praise for strikers Dom Telford and Tom Nichols.

Telford opened his account for the club after James Tilley’s opener had been cancelled out by Oliver Crankshaw, while Nichols assisted all three Crawley goals.

Betsy said: “Dom deserves a lot of credit and is a player who shows the quality he has.

“Tom made three assists and has been exceptional for us – he is a really intelligent footballer and he scored goals.”

Chris Hussey had made it 2-2 for Stockport, but defeat ruined manager Dave Challinor’s 50th game in charge and he was furious about the mistakes his side continue to make.

He said: ”Mistakes are killing us. I have real faith in the group, but the most disappointing thing is that we haven’t learnt from the mistakes we’ve made.

“We’ve scored in every league game this season, but we can’t expect to score three goals away and expect to win.

“The goals we conceded were absolutely horrific.”

Challinor urged his side to improve on “bad decision making” and stressed: “The teams that scores first win a significant proportion of games.

“Last year, when we went in front, we won a large number of those games.

“You earn your own luck and bad decisions mean there is only so many times you can come back.”

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