Crawley Town drew 2-2 with Huddersfield Town at the Broadfield Stadium. Here is Rob Elliot's full post-match press conference (one explicit word used).
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00:00Rob, thank you for joining us. On paper, a very good result against a strong Huddersfield
00:06side that will be fighting promotion at the end of the season, but is there mixed emotions
00:10after going ahead twice and not winning the game? How do you assess it?
00:13I think my overriding emotions is pride. Genuinely really proud of the group. I think that's
00:20a question mark maybe when I come in, could they defend and fight like that and considering
00:24everything that's gone against us with the injuries and everything, and they just showed
00:26their character overall. And I said to them in there, don't be disappointed by the fact
00:30we're hanging on against a team that, last year we were two leagues apart, four or five
00:34years ago they were in the Premier League. So it's just an incredible character, incredible
00:38culture that the lads are building, and I'm genuinely so proud of them. That's my overriding
00:42feeling. Yes, we'll dissect the game and see where we get better, but no, just really pleased.
00:50I can pick people out, but I can't pick anyone. I thought everyone, to the man, was fantastic
00:55in and out of the squad, and I think it's not going to mean we're not turning any corners,
01:02we're not getting one step ahead of ourselves, too high, too low. We're just creating minimum
01:06standards that we have to keep, and if that was another minimum standard, we'd raise the
01:10bar a little bit more again.
01:11Yes, and that's a big takeaway, isn't it? That we say that we were hanging on, but Huddersfield
01:16had to fight back, and as you say, two very different teams. Last season, as you say,
01:21the league separated us, so to feel disappointed is almost a good thing, isn't it? Because
01:26it shows how far we've come.
01:27Yes, exactly, and it is a disappointment because, listen, they're a top team. Statistically,
01:33they should be top, or they should be second or third. They're obviously coming together
01:37again. Michael's a brilliant manager and a good person, and I think to back up Burton
01:44with another good, positive result, you have to just keep ticking them off. We can't think
01:48too far ahead. We just think about Tuesday, we think about Saturday, and then that's it.
01:53I think the thing I was pleased with is we had a game plan to start the game with. We
01:58didn't execute as well as we could have done early on, but the idea was that we know they
02:03were aggressive and going man for man, so we put our quickest three players on top of
02:05the pitch. I mean, Harry, Rushy and Swanee, and obviously Rushy gets the first goal by
02:10that, and Swanee does a lot of work for the team. He sometimes doesn't get the opportunities
02:16because he's doing so much work, and I thought his touch for the set for the pass to Rushy
02:20was exceptional. So, yeah, really pleased with that, and when we did lose energy, the
02:24lads who come on just gained more and more. Having one person after, not just one person,
02:29but Max Anderson has been unbelievable, absolutely unbelievable, as a character and in terms
02:35of his performances, for me, just different guys. He goes about his business, doesn't
02:40moan, doesn't argue, just gets on with it, and I thought he was exceptional today.
02:45We seem to execute the areas where we know we're going to cause team's defence really
02:49well. I mean, it was quite obvious today that one of those was with Pace in behind, there
02:53was constant balls into Forster on the wide, who created the second goal in the end, obviously
02:58Rush scoring the first as well. So, is that really pleasing for you to see, that we're
03:02sort of really putting teams under pressure in the areas we know we're strongest?
03:06Yeah, and I think it's also what I'm really pleased with is that it's taken a little bit
03:09of time, because the team is so structured before we come in, in a good way, in an unbelievable
03:16way, and I think the adaption to this level that I'm seeing is that, probably what you've
03:22found from the earlier performances against teams, that they're so good structurally and
03:25they're so powerful on the counter that we have to be able to have two, three, four dimensions
03:30to our game so that teams can't always press, they can't always sit off, and I thought we
03:35did that really well today, and I think what I'm really pleased and proud of the lads is
03:38the buy-in that I've talked about in terms of what we're asking was incredible, along
03:43with their determination and spirit, and yeah, we have to try our best to try and see opportunities
03:48where we can hurt teams, and I felt wide areas today we felt there was an opportunity to
03:53hurt them and I think we did. We'd like to have done it more, but that was an unbelievable
03:58energy-zapping game today, because Huddersfield are the best at what they do, they're so aggressive
04:02man for man, they can play, they get more crosses in the box than any other team, so
04:06no, just an incredible performance.
04:08Yeah, we don't like to single out any players obviously, but we are missing a few of what
04:13some may call the key players, obviously Flinney's got a bad injury, so he's going to be out
04:16for a while, Armando's out was causing defence lots of troubles in the early parts of the
04:20season, so when you compare some of the people that they're bringing in off the bench, some
04:25who were Championship strikers last season, again, massive credit has to go to the group
04:29in the changing room for holding on, because after they scored they put a lot of pressure
04:33on us, didn't they, so to hold out is really impressive.
04:36Yeah, exactly, and I thought the lads that came on really did give us a bit more energy,
04:41a bit more opportunity, and we did have opportunities to score and nick the game, obviously towards
04:45the end it was all men to deck, and do you know what, in a weird way, it's not how I
04:53like my teams to play, I want to be on the front foot, I want to be possession-based,
04:56but what I'm learning very quickly, and what the lads are learning is that points breed
05:00confidence, they breed results, and now we've gone three games unbeaten, only lost one in
05:06five, so that helps the lads with the buy-in, it helps the lads to keep going, some of these
05:11players are playing with big knocks and stuff, and they're putting their body on the line,
05:15Swanney's calf, Toby's back, and I think the fact that they're willing to do that, and
05:22then the performances they put in just should add to all their belief, and add to all the
05:27other stuff, where we know we can hurt teams, we can score goals, we can hurt teams, which
05:30is exactly what we want to do.
05:31Yeah, it should give the players in there some belief, but it should also give the fans
05:35some belief as well, as you say, one loss in five, not only for the players and the
05:40staff, but the fans have to take a lot of pride and confidence in that, because it is
05:44going to come to a stage later on in the season where points do mean everything, so to be
05:48gaining any, fans will always want to be winning week in, week out, but to be gaining points
05:53is positive momentum, isn't it?
05:55100%, and a point against Huddersfield at home, you can say, great point, and it was,
06:01but I think the performance and the way we went about it, considering all the things
06:04they're against at the moment, with the injuries and everything, was probably the reception
06:08at the end, all the fans clapping and the lads, because I think the fundamental thing
06:12you want as a fan, I was fortunate enough to play for my boyhood club at Cholton, and
06:15obviously a very passionate fan group at Newcastle, it's called my second team, is they just want
06:20someone to, they want players that will replicate what a fan can control, so if I'm a fan, I
06:27can't, maybe not have the ability as a rushy, but I can run and I can fight and I can head
06:31for the club and the badge, and I think that's what the lads did, and I thought the reception
06:34at the end was brilliant, and the reception Tuesday night was, that genuinely got me quite
06:38emotional because, you know, 200 people, 300 people travel up on a Tuesday night to watch
06:42us at Burton, you know, not the most attractive game in the world, but then afterwards they're
06:45cheering the team, they're singing the club's name, and I think that's what these lads have
06:49done, and that's what we need to continue to do, is make the club proud, and no matter
06:52what happens going forward, if we can be a team, a club, that's together and proud and
06:57attacking this league in every way, knowing that we're, you know, we're David against Goliath
07:01pretty much every week, well then let's just embrace it and enjoy the ride.
07:04Brilliant, thank you, oh yeah, speaking about fans, as I was sitting in the press box at the end,
07:09a couple walked past me, one gave me a thumbs up and said I'll take that, and another gave
07:13a fist bump and said what a performance, I mean that must be really pleasing to hear for you.
07:16It is, because I think it's not the cleanest performance in terms of the play, but we knew
07:20it wasn't going to be, you know, they're really well structured, they step on man for man,
07:24and they back themselves to be physically more dominant than we are, and we stood up to it,
07:28we stood up to it tremendously well, and yes it was all hands to the pump, you know, and we had
07:31to fight, we had to scrap towards the end of the game, but we want to stay in this league,
07:36of course you've got to do that, you have to fight, you have to show that fight, that bollocks,
07:40excuse my language, but you have to, because there's no other way you're going to, there's
07:43no other way you're going to survive in this league by just being one dimensional, you have
07:46to do everything, and that's why I'm so proud of the lads, because they showed a side to them,
07:50I have seen, and I'm seeing it more and more, and I think, you know, some of these players here
07:54we've got, there's so much more to come from them, but if they can keep their mentality,
07:59not get too high, not get too low, and stay consistent, but keep topping up the minimum
08:03level, so that was our minimum base now, and we can't fall below that, physically our output,
08:07our running organisation can't fall below that ever again, that has to be our minimum,
08:11and even if the quality isn't there, because that's football, that's life, at least we can
08:14always fall back onto that. Yeah, and we've mentioned the players that are missing,
08:18Jay Williams obviously missing, he's been a vital part in the last couple of seasons,
08:21Bradley Ibrahim stepped in, and he's looked not out of place at all, has he, I mean,
08:26what does he bring to the side for you? Brad just brings bite, and enthusiasm, and a desire
08:31that he wants to get better, and Brad just needs to understand that he can only get better for 90
08:35minutes, he can't fast forward where he wants to get to, and I mean that in the nicest possible
08:39sense, because I've really enjoyed working with Brad, you know, his hunger, his tenacity,
08:45but also he wants to get better, he wants to learn, and you know, he's a ferocious character,
08:50he's fiery, but he's added that to our group, and I think our group are fiery and they're
08:54ferocious, you know, with Jay missing at the moment, we've got someone who takes up that
08:58mantle who's aggressive, and then you've got Max, and then you've got Pan today,
09:01run himself into the ground, you know, first time he's done three games in a week,
09:05and then Jez, Gav, you know, I can talk about all of them, but yeah, I thought it was,
09:10we've got to have that, because before the game even starts, you have to fight, you have to be
09:15willing to fight the opposition, and then you want to play the football after that.
09:18Yeah, and Conor Truman as well, it's quite a unique situation with him,
09:21isn't it, he hasn't played a lot of football at all, and he's come in twice now to help out,
09:24and I thought specifically first half, I thought he was exceptional today,
09:28he pulled off that brilliant save from point blank, and now just a word about him,
09:31and how he's performed for you.
09:32I think it was a no-brainer to bring Conor back, because when you look at it on paper,
09:35he's conceded nine goals in two games, but his performance was exceptional,
09:38it might have been the first goal against Shrewsbury he'd be disappointed with, but
09:42again, he adds to our group, he's coming for crosses against one of the biggest teams,
09:45he's punching, he's making saves, his distribution was fantastic, he organises,
09:49and he's really brought into the culture, so yeah, really, really pleased with him,
09:53really, really happy with what he's brought, and you know, I was desperate to bring him back,
09:57he was desperate to come back, and yeah, he's been a big part of it,
09:59and Jojo's been exceptional for us this season, so the losing in the manner we did,
10:03it was tough, but to have Conor there really does help in the fact that we know we've got
10:07a reliable person to come in, and obviously even Jasper, you know, Jasper, his training
10:13is exceptional, and he's hopefully, when we can get the goalkeeping situation a bit more fluid,
10:18because of how unlucky we've been, he can get out on loan and start developing,
10:20because he's got a real chance.