‘We weren’t good enough’ – Dion Conroy makes honest assessment of Crawley Town’s loss to Colchester

Crawley came into the game fighting to cement their spot in the play-off places, whereas Colchester needed points to aid them in their scrap against relegation.

Dion Conroy, who captained the Reds in the absence of Ben Gladwin, admitted that his team weren’t up to standard.

“We weren’t good enough today. Simple.” Conroy continued: “Obviously, the goals really are our own mistakes from individuals, things that we can’t really prevent as a team. It’s just one of those things that happens.

“[It was a] very frustrating day, obviously, so we’ve got to brush ourselves off, forget about the game and we move on to Tuesday.”

Crawley Town face fellow play-off hopefuls Barrow at home on Tuesday. A win would be a huge boost in the Reds’ aims to secure a spot in the League Two promotion playoffs.

Conroy said: “We know it's a must win.”

Crawley were widely tipped for relegation this season, but even with this poor result, they remain in the play-off positions because of results elsewhere.

Conroy said: “It's been a really good season, and there's still a lot to look forward to.

“Everyone's worked extremely, extremely hard, so we deserve to be in the spot that we're in. And we've got to make the most of it now.

“Like I said, the results went our way. It's in our hands to do what we got to do on Tuesday.”

Although Conroy admitted he paid attention to other team’s results, he also knew that Crawley’s success is in the team’s own hands.

He added: “We’ve got to think that they [other play-off contenders] are going to win every game.

“We just have to work hard now and get ready for Tuesday.”

Broadfield Stadium sold out for the Colchester game, and Conroy and his team were appreciative of the fans’ effort ahead of a vital run of games.

He said: “The fans were incredible. Their support is going to be needed more now than ever.”