13 March 2021

John Yems says ‘touch of magic’ proved decisive after James Tilley winner

13 March 2021

Crawley head coach John Yems felt a “bit of magic” from substitute James Tilley was enough to give his side their fourth successive home win, 1-0 over Mansfield.

Tilley settled the Sky Bet League Two home contest in stoppage time by beating goalkeeper Marek Stech at his near post with a fierce low shot.

Tilley was also the match-winner in similar circumstances as Crawley beat Colchester 1-0 last month.

Yems said: “It was one of those games when a mistake or a bit of magic would settle it, and fortunately for us Tilley came up with the magic.

“With so many games being played, tiredness is creeping in and I thought this game was heading for 0-0. “

Crawley have not conceded a goal while winning their last four home games, and Yems added:” We have some good players here. We have to keep it going.

“Clean sheets are important, you start with one and if you finish with one you have a chance of getting something in the end.”

Mansfield boss Nigel Clough was dismayed that a “soft goal” had cost his point right at the death.

Clough admitted that poor finishing had led to the Stags going down to their fourth successive away defeat.

He said:” It looked like it would finish 0-0 but we didn’t deal with the goal properly.

“Up until then we did OK in patches. If we had hung on, it wouldn’t have been a bad result.

“The first half was lacklustre and it was the same for Crawley with all the games we are having to play – it takes a lot out of the players. “

Clough confessed that there will be “a lot of assessing” as he grapples with the task of cutting out errors.

When asked if the errors can be stopped with the current squad, Clough replied: “I’m not sure.

“There will be a lot of assessing done and maybe fresh players will be needed to make that difference.”

The Stags went into the game fresh from beating leaders Cheltenham 3-1, and Clough added: “Inconsistency is halting our progress.”

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