Great result

Another brilliant night of this brilliant town season so far, We played well and the atmosphere was cracking aswell.

The first half we started off slowly mainly because of the way Crawley played, a big physical direct side with no ability to play football, because of their style we struggled to get out passing game going and led to a poor first 30 minutes. The first half changed with a brilliant freekick from Cibbochi which hit the crossbar but Rooney took a brilliant first touch and slotted it nicely in the bottom corner. The end of the first half Crawley put pressure on us, 3 or 4 corners in a row and with the height of their side they're always a threat from set pieces, two brilliant saves from Foderingham kept us 1 up at half time.

The second half was a completly different game, we were brilliant and just didn't give them any time to play the ball, we looked more and more confident as the half went on. Then Billy scored an absoulte cracker to put us two up and after that we never looked back, McCormack was as brilliant as always and his fantastic link up play and great run down the wing gave Benson an easy finish at the back post. The football in the second half was impressive but no the best we've played this season and comfortable beat one of our promotion rivals.

Ratings -

Foderingham - 9 - Great coming for crosses, organises the defence brilliantly and two great saves in the first half which kept it at 1-0
Caddis - 8 - As reliable as ever, brilliant going up and defensively looked very assured.
McCormack - 10 - MOM, seem to win every header agaisnt Attackers with half a foot advantage on him, he won the ball and instead of panicking and just booting it away he looked for the next pass. He was just brilliant last night
Devera - 9 - Thought we would miss Flint last night but we didn't, Devera was brilliant seem to win every challenge and played well with McCormack in keeping the ball at the back to build on.
Cibbochi - 8 - Does his job quietly, but effectively. Defensively he's better than Kennedy maybe not as good when attacking but not bad aswell, he has a cracking left foot and proved it with a brilliant freekick which led to Rooney's goal.
Ritchie - 8 - Ritchie and Caddis seemed doubled up all night, but it didn't make much difference, Paolo obviously told them not to do as much crosses as they usually do as they kept passing between them trying to find the space for Bodin and Benson on the ground instead of in the air, as the Crawley defence was huge.
Ferry - 5 - In 15 minutes he did about 2 or 3 misplaced passes and got replaced by Cox after 20 odd minutes, he was ill though so i'll let him off.
Smith - 9 - Looking a great signing, a brute in the challenge but also seems very good on the ball, broke everything in the Crawley midfield so they couldn't pass the ball at all.
Rooney - 8 - Nice goal, a few decent runs but did go missing for large periods of the game.
Benson - 9 - Brilliant again, nice poachers goal and seems to win every ball and is brilliant in holding the ball up.
Bodin - 9 - Best game I've seen Billy play, going to Torquay hes has bulked up and is noticeable doesn't get pushed off the ball easily and some of his touches and his skill are just incredible, and what a goal he scored. Huge potential, need to keep him.
Subs -
Cox - 8 - Great on the ball, loved getting stuck in, looks another good signing from Paolo and his team. Like Smith he broke up the play in the midfield and was decent with his passing.
De Vita & Murray - Came on late and didn't impact much.

One thing annoyed me a lot in the game though, Evans and his team. Their constant moaning was a disgrace, Evans or his assistant would be constantly in the Fourth officials ear and moaning after every challenge trying to get a foul or a booking and for such a big physical team they do get injured very easily...

Things looking brilliant table wise. 1 point behind the top 3 with 2 games in hand on all of them. Things looking good as a Town Fan!!

STFC

Thanks for your excellent account, just the nitty-gritty I was hoping for. I really appreciate it.

Couldn't agree more about the Crawley 'mangement team'. SE clearly has some kind of personality disorder which then sets the tone for the rest I guess.

Yes, great to be a Town Fan, it's a very long time since I've felt like this.

Don,
Surely only about 2 years!
But 3 points! Both strikers scored!
This is what we want!

I know I'm a bit late but great write up X.
Two great wins against two physical sides this week has made our position in the league look really healthy. On to Tuesday now and another three points would be most welcome. Would love to get into the position that the occasional lapse will still not halt our push for promotion. Happy days