Crawley Town’s Jimmy Smith believes Reds must learn from Mansfield mistakes

He said: “From kick-off we didn’t start well. They put pressure on us on the back foot early doors, turning us.

“It felt like it was a boxing fight, they kept jabbing us and pushing us back and we didn’t fight back.

“We dealt with their pressure in the first half but then they scored just before half-time and we were really disappointed.

“We had a few chances in the first half and when you get them you’ve got to put them away, especially away from home.

“The goal was crucial and so was the sending-off. You’ve just got to stay in the game. We weren’t solid enough and the goals kept coming one after another.

“If we’d gone in at half-time 0-0 we’d have been happy.

“The manager can’t do it, it’s down to us on the pitch - we weren’t solid, we weren’t organised. We weren’t being clever with our play.

“I know we had ten men but we were sloppy. We’ve got to learn from it and make sure we put it right next week.”

Smith did not feel the two-week break caused by international call-ups was a reason for the poor display.

He said: “We had a friendly arranged so our preparation has been fine and I don’t hold that as an excuse. It was a bad day at the office and we need to move on.

“It didn’t happen for us today. We were sloppy all over the pitch and we need to put it right.

“It’s been a hard month, we’ve played a lot of teams many people feel are going be challenging for it and we’ve done well. But this wasn’t good enough.

“We’ve just had a good chat about our mistakes and we want to put it right this Saturday against Yeovil and get the three points.”

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