Crawley Town boss Rob Elliot on Charlton postponement

SussexWorld

Crawley Town's League One encounter with Charlton Athletic was called off just 20 minutes before kick-off due yo a waterlogged pitch. Here is Reds boss Rob Elliot on the postponement, fixture congestion and the return of Antony Papadopoulos

Transcript

00:00A slight disappointment here at the Bournemouth Stadium this afternoon, only 20 minutes from

00:03kick-off and the game was postponed. Frustration, but I suppose the message to the fans is it's

00:08all in the interest of player safety, isn't it?

00:10Yeah, it's out of our hands, isn't it, unfortunately. So the referee's got to make their decisions

00:15based on whatever they make their decisions on. Yeah, you have to respect that. It's obviously

00:21disappointing for everyone to be in the stadium and so close to kick-off and obviously on

00:25New Year's Day with a full crowd, especially with the atmosphere the way it was at Birmingham.

00:28So from our point of view, obviously we lose out on that. But yeah, like you say, it's

00:32out of your hands like that. You just have to go with what the rules say and I suppose

00:38that player safety etc. is the main thing that you have to adhere by because if anything

00:44does go wrong, that's the reason these things are in place in the first place. So frustrating

00:47because yeah, a good New Year's Day game for us, but you have to control the controllables

00:53basically.

00:54Yeah, and what does the rest of the day look like for the players? Are you sending them

00:57off to the gym or is it sort of just a rare chance considering the schedule we've had?

01:03Not to say that this will necessarily work in our favour, but maybe it will be a chance

01:06for a bit of respite for the players. What are you going to do with it?

01:09They're doing some work now. They're doing some work in the gym now. They'll get as best

01:13as they can physical output. So yeah, it gives us an opportunity to obviously have a day

01:19off tomorrow and then prep for Barnsley. So we'll go and figure that all out now because

01:29obviously it does change plans and what not. But I just said to the players, you've prepared

01:33right, you've sacrificed over Christmas and we've probably been given the worst fixture

01:39schedule over this festive period to be honest with you. I don't know how the right word

01:47to say it is without getting in trouble to be honest with you. So maybe this gives us

01:53a little bit of a breathing space for where we've been put in one position. We have to

01:57use it as a positive as best we can. You get ready for a game and you're looking forward

02:01to a big game and obviously against a very good team, we're obviously in form. Now we

02:06have to reset and use this rest period to go to Barnsley and tackle that on all fronts.

02:10Yeah, and finally just a big thank you to the fans as you say who had already started

02:14to make their travels for the second consecutive home match. We were about to have a sell-out

02:18crowd which is absolutely incredible obviously for the club, for the players and for the

02:23fans as a whole collective. So a big thank you to them and obviously we'll see them in

02:27the rearranged fixture but rest up before a long trip to Barnsley again I suppose.

02:31Yeah and that was the thing, I obviously spoke to a lot of fans after and staff and obviously

02:35so frustrating and I think that was the brilliant thing was the atmosphere against Birmingham

02:39was brilliant. Definitely pushed the lads along in such a difficult game against a top

02:45team and it was a brilliant atmosphere. It was a great night for the club and to do it

02:47again in the next home game, a sell-out crowd, it was brilliant. I think this season is going

02:56to be one of those ones where it's all up, down, here, there and everywhere and we just

02:59need to make sure we stay consistent and keep being positive and doing the right things.

03:04Obviously for us, on reflection there was a lot of positives. Obviously the way we played

03:08for the first 55-60 minutes and then obviously the negatives in terms of the way we ended

03:13the game, irrelevant of refereeing decisions etc, we still expect better for ourselves

03:18so it was a good opportunity for us to attack that but we'll have to go and do that to Barnsley,

03:23a very strong team away from home but again another fantastic day out for the fans and

03:30the club in what will hopefully be a very good game.

03:35Are you worried about a little bit of fixture congestion as we get into January, February?

03:45Not after this week, no. I think it's a game of football at the end of the day, you just

03:52have to deal with the cards you're given and whenever the games are rearranged for, you

03:56just have to deal with it and you have to be ready to attack it and reassess in terms

04:02of what you have to plan for in training. When things are out of your control, you can't

04:08focus on that, you just have to focus on what you can control. All we can focus on now is

04:11our training in the next couple of days, ready for Barnsley and then obviously a week's gap

04:17ready for Burton after that. You can't get too caught up in things that you can't control,

04:22if you do then you waste energy that's not needed.

04:25Anthony Papadopoulos has been superb out on loan, he's someone that we really like, he's

04:44a fantastic professional, trains really well, he's got a goal in him and with us losing

04:49Adi, losing Harry and not having a wide option or someone who can play wing back, perhaps

04:54to be fair to him, he can play a lot of positions, he's played the 10, the 8, but he has played

04:58wing back and I think he could be affected there. I've just felt that he deserved this

05:02opportunity and I wanted someone who has the energy output that he has, he gives absolutely

05:06everything, he'll run himself into the ground high intensity, consistently, he'll fight

05:10for every ball and he's got quality, he knows a goal and he can find a goal. Like I've said

05:14on many occasions, for us to be successful and to survive, we need to be on the front

05:20foot, we need to be aggressive, we need to be positive. That doesn't always look like

05:23that when we play, obviously after Exeter, you have to take Junior off because it's his

05:29first 60 minutes and that's all he can do, it's all he's earmarked to, so you have to

05:32take Jun's off. But we want to attack every game in every way possible, we want to go

05:38and score goals, we also want to be solid defensively and keep clear sheets. I think

05:44Paps falls into that because he works so hard off the ball but he's got quality on the ball

05:48and I think he's someone, not just for now but for the rest of the season, with and around

05:53the squad or probably even further along to be honest with you because he's on his own

05:57journey of development. Really pleased and disappointed for him at the same time because

06:02it was a good opportunity for him, one he deserved but I'm sure there'll be many more

06:06to come for him as long as he keeps doing what he's doing. It's positive for us that

06:11we have someone like Paps who's gone out and done the hard yards and is ready to come back

06:16into the squad. And are you expecting any ins and outs quickly in this transfer window?

06:21To be honest with you, at this moment in time, no. We might have one player coming in before

06:25Barnsley but I think that all depends on getting things sorted but that would be more someone

06:31to come in to help the squad. I don't know where we're at with that to be pretty honest

06:36because the game's coming to a pick and fast. One of the reasons coming in, obviously the

06:41recruitment at Gateshead and obviously the way they do recruitment here is trying to

06:46add to that and merge them so that we can go and get players that maybe are undervalued

06:50elsewhere and add value and add strength to the squad. And I think as long as we're improving

06:55the squad and we're bringing players in that add to the culture and add to the playing

06:58style and that they improve us on and off the pitch, then that's all you can do. So

07:03yeah, I think everyone's working hard behind the scenes to make sure that happens and on

07:07the flip side, making sure that everyone who's at the club buys into what we're doing

07:14because it's going to take everyone, not just on the pitch, off the pitch to keep us in

07:18this league.

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