Colin Kazim-Richards: Crawley learned lessons from defeat last time out
Town beat Rochdale on Saturday after finishing with nine men in their opening-day loss to Crewe.
Crawley head coach Colin Kazim-Richards praised his side’s discipline after their 2-1 victory at Rochdale.
Pemi Aderoju gave the visitors an eighth-minute lead, which was cancelled out by Ethan Ebanks-Landell after 54 minutes, but a Louie Watson penalty made sure of the points.
After finishing with nine players against Crewe in their opening league match, Kazim-Richards insisted he had not feared a repeat.
Kazim-Richards said: “We learned from last week and some good things came from it. We played on the edge, but the players didn’t jump in.
“I didn’t think it was a nine-card game – the referee was inconsistent for both sides.”
Peterborough loanee Aderoju, who also won the 72nd-minute penalty which Watson converted, also impressed Kazim-Richards.
He said: “Pemi has a lot of attributes, but he also has a lot to learn.
“When you are young, you are fearless. When people talk about having experience, you understand what the game can give you so nerves trickle in. Pemi has that young lion that is looking to take over.
“We have three good strikers, but Pemi gives us something different with his presence. From the first minute, their defender knew it was going to be a long day playing against him.
“He also scores goals and I want my strikers to affect games, and Pemi does that really well.”
Newly promoted Dale have lost both league matches and head coach Ian Watson, who succeeded Jimmy McNulty in the summer, said: “It was another tough moment, especially with the players not available.
“There was a lot of improvement from last week and I couldn’t have asked the players to give me anymore – they left everything out there.
“We played with a lot more belief from last week when we were shy and tentative. I asked them to believe in themselves, Nobody hid and collectively we were a lot better.
“I was disappointed with their first goal, but we got back with the skipper’s goal and I thought we were in the ascendancy but then turned over the ball and conceded a penalty.
“I don’t think we deserved to lose. It hurts a lot. Words are cheap and we have to react.”
Watson asked the fans to show patience, believing better times are around the corner.
He said: “I have been around a lot of football clubs and in a lot of changing rooms before and know when it is time to worry, and this is not that.
“The boys are all positive and we are going to drive the football club forward and be successful. I have zero doubt in my head about that.”