Evans proud of Crawley cup heroes
CRAWLEY boss Steve Evans saluted his team’s efforts after today’s 2-0 FA Cup Fifth Round exit at the hands of Stoke City, but criticised referee Mike Jones for a number of crucial decisions.
Goals either side of half time from Jonathan Walters and Peter Crouch saw Tony Pulis’ Potters progress to the quarter finals. But Crawley dominated for long spells against the visitors, who were reduced to ten men in the first half when Rory Delap was sent off for a lunge on David Hunt. And that was not the only critical decision in the match, Evans was unhappy with the award of a penalty shortly before half time, from which Walters put Stoke in front, while the Reds’ boss was adamant Crawley should have been given two penalties in the second half - for a shove on Tyrone Barnett and a Ryan Shawcross handball on the goal-line.
Evans said: “I think we are unfortunate. There is no doubt that Stoke are fortunate to get a penalty at a key stage of the game. And in the second half, how Shawcross is still on the park I don’t know. I suggest if it had gone 2-1 with five or six minutes to play, with them down to nine men, we would have punished them. The referee had a poor game in that respect.”
Crawley made a terrific start, and might have taken an early lead when Stoke’s England front-man Crouch hit his own crossbar from a Hunt corner. But after Delap’s dismissal, the Potters reorganised well, and settled into a good rhythm.
“I think we were outstanding for long spells in the second half,” Evans said. “And those first 15 minutes will get more gloss because it’s 11 v 11. When it was 11 v 10 we got some good width and passed the ball around.
“We limited Stoke to three efforts on goal today, a penalty and Crouch’s fantastic header.
“We wanted our integrity in tact, and we have probably enhanced that. We have shown that we can step up and play against good players and showed tactically we got it right today.”
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Weather for Crawley
Sunday 27 May 2012
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