I had nothing to do last Tuesday but ponder over whether Ronan could do us any favours by inspiring Wigan Athletic to a much-needed win over Burton Albion.
Much needed by Crawley Town that is, and not by Wigan Athletic as they sat in no man’s land on 54 points, 11 above the bottom four relegation spots and 21 points shy of the play-offs. Nothing to play for but professional pride and being honest till the end.
The game was on the tele that night and I recorded it to watch when I arrived home after my House group had finished.
As it was, on the short walk home from my night out, the white Pele scored with a cross cum shot which evaded both the Wigan forwards and the Albion keeper to give a tantalising glimmer of hope but, as we all know now, time ran out and the Red Devils were relegated along with Bristol Rovers, Cambridge United and Shrewsbury who already knew their fate for this season.
If only Ronan had come on earlier than the 66th minute.
If, if, if.
The next morning, I was asked if I would like to submit an online article about our season and where we had gone wrong, but I thought I would leave it until after the Shrewsbury game and I am glad I took that stance because Scott expressed my thoughts in his Shrewsbury preview when he said basically that we were relegated because over the season we just weren’t consistent enough to stay up.
Also, in that preview, he appeared to be quite confident about building on the foundations of the current squad, rather than starting afresh, and was hopeful of being able to keep all the players he wants to keep. Next week, according to Scott, we should know more about who wants to embark on the new season in League 2 and he seems optimistic that it will be an interesting ride.
Last Thursday, it was my privilege and honour to attend the funeral service and celebration of the life of Audrey Turnbull at the Surrey and Sussex Crematorium and the Executive Suite. I was lucky enough to meet ex-players Vic Bragg, Tony Vessey, Micky Turner and Ricky Fitzgerald and also John and Margaret Duly, Sheila Marley, Sarah Markham and Audrey’s daughter Jackie and her family and the chance to talk to them all to remember the lives of Audrey, and Les her husband, was one not to be missed.
On to last Saturday and a great day out in Shropshire where just about 300 plus Red Devils turned out to thank the “team” for their efforts this season. The Shrews didn’t surrender but Crawley weren’t in the mood to let them take the last League One points on offer for a while.
Rushian and Max Anderson scored our goals in a two one win which, alongside Burton’s three one defeat at Charlton, saw us finish just one point below safety. So, going back to that question “Where did it go wrong?” here is my attempt to answer it.
Firstly, it didn’t go wrong because of one terrible refereeing decision as in the game at home against Wrexham as that would only have given us one point and we would then have missed out on goal difference.
Did it go wrong because of individual player mistakes? I don’t think so. It went “wrong” because over the season we didn’t win enough games that we should have won and the most obvious of these were Exeter City away and Bolton Wanderers away where we let three and two-goal leads disappear costing us two victories and five points.
However, other teams will be saying the same sort of things about their seasons and, after all is said and done, that is the beauty or the ugliness of our game depending on your club’s circumstances.
There will be some supporters who will point at the difference between the percentages of points gained by the team under the three different people in charge, and for those who feel that way here are the stats; Robbie Elliot 23 points from 90 available, Ben Gladwin 0 from 3 and Scott Lindsey 23 from 45 available.
To bear in mind here though, we must remember Scott left us for his own reasons and is now thankfully back with us to help the club, it’s owners and supporters achieve what we all want and that is success in the long term.