FAN'S VIEW: Steve Herbert says Crawley fans can rest assured after status retained

Football league status has been secured for another season. It was achieved in typical Crawley Town fashion.
Crawley Town fan Steve HerbertCrawley Town fan Steve Herbert
Crawley Town fan Steve Herbert

After blowing a two-goal lead at home to Carlisle on Saturday, Reds secured their football league status for a seventh season with a 92nd minute stoppage-time equaliser.

The goalscorer was captain fantastic Jimmy Smith. Who surely has to be up there for player of the season, along with a few others.

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The other two goals were scored by the front-runner for that gong James Collins. His first was a contender for goal of the season.

Although in my eyes Josh Payne has already won this with his sublime winning free-kick at Wycombe the other month.

What us Reds fans can do now is relax and enjoy the final couple of games of what has been a tiring campaign. One that promised so much at the end of January, but has fizzled out like a cheap glass of bubbly.

Having said that, the vast majority of us Reds fans would have taken football league survival and a season of stability.

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It’s just we would of liked to and should of achieved this several weeks ago. But ‘hey-ho’ that’s what makes the beautiful game so exciting.

Talking of excitement, I would like to congratulate the other professional football club in Sussex for their promotion to the Premier League.

Now I know this rattles a few feathers when I mention the achievements of the seaweed.

But Brighton and Hove Albion’s 34-year wait to get back to the big time is a bigger achievement than some people give them credit for.

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For me personally I can completely understand the elation felt among the Brighton fans.

One of my closest friends is a huge Brighton fan and as a teenager I would often take in an Albion game with him and his dad.

I attended games at now long lost stadiums such as Hull City’s Boothferry Park and Swansea’s old Vetch Field ground.

Who were both bottom division clubs at the time with gates of 2,000.

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Just look where both those clubs are now! In fact I even attended Brighton’s famous game at Hereford in 1997 when they were homeless and literally minutes from going out of the football league altogether.

It’s the hard times that a football club has to go through to appreciate the good times.

Us at Crawley are no different. After being minutes away from liquidation in 2006 and going out of business, the club picked themselves up off the floor to achieve back-to-back promotions to League One.

It was certainly the most successful time in Crawley’s history and a journey that none of us Reds fans will ever forget.

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All I hope for now is that some of those fans who jumped on the CTFC bandwagon during our glory years will come back again.

But we all know the only way the club will attract those fans once again is if the team are producing winning performances.

Something Dermot and Matt will be working tirelessly this summer to help achieve next season.