Crawley Town suffered a 2-0 defeat away at Oldham Athletic on Saturday afternoon and Crawley midfielder Dion Pereira sent out a stark warning to his Crawley teammates.
Scott Lindsey’s Reds left Boundary Park with nothing following a Jack Stevens brace which saw Crawley suffer their nineteenth loss of this League Two campaign. Lindsey described his side as “second best throughout the game.”
Crawley keeper Jacob Chapman was forced into making several important saves to prevent the score line from becoming out of hand. The opening twenty-five minutes saw Crawley start on the backfoot following the home side’s fast start.
Lindsey’s Crawley side struggled to gain any real momentum in the match and fell to yet another defeat as the Reds continue to sit precariously.
Following full-time, Pereira sent out a clear message regarding Crawley’s desperate situation saying that “if we don’t start waking up and grabbing it ourselves, someone else will.”
The former Luton Town and Bradford City player relayed the fact that he and his teammates need to capitalise on the fact that the teams around Crawley aren’t pulling away and it is all still to play for with eleven games remaining to retain their place in League Two.
The 26 year-old remarked that “it’s not good enough” and went on to say that the League Two strugglers put their “foot down in the second half and it’s too late by then, we’re two nil down.”
Playing half a match has been a common trend for the Reds this season and continues to hinder their chances of staying in the league.
Crawley currently occupy 21st position in the League Two table, two places above the drop zone and just one point clear.
Fortunately for Crawley, Gillingham’s injury time winner against Barrow, meant the Reds didn’t drop further down the table, but the Bluebird’s do have two games in hand on Crawley.
The business end of the season is in full swing and it is shaping up to be a five way battle between Bristol Rovers, Crawley, Barrow, Harrogate Town, and Newport County.
Tranmere Rovers are also being dragged into the scrap at the bottom of table with just two wins since the turn of the year, but as Pereira warned if Crawley “don’t start waking up” they face the prospect of back-to-back relegations and the dreaded drop to the National League.
