Mat Sadler: ‘We can’t just rely on Matt Tubbs to get us goals’

By Warren Lucy
Stephen Pickthall archive ENGSUS00120130611143808Stephen Pickthall archive ENGSUS00120130611143808
Stephen Pickthall archive ENGSUS00120130611143808

Reds’ left back Mat Sadler rued the fine margins in League One following Crawley’s third consecutive defeat, the latest against Preston North End on Saturday.

John Gregory’s men were downed 1-0 to the play-off chasing Lancastrians and Sadler felt he and his team-mates were unfortunate not to take anything from the match: “There’s not much in the game and there was a 20 minute spell at the start where I don’t think we were at the races,” the 29-year-old admitted.

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“Continuity breeds success defensively and I think that showed (with the two defensive changes). Billy (Clarke) has had a good chance to bring us level and we’re disappointed to leave here with nothing. We’ll go again (at Port Vale).”

With games running out, Sadler wants his side to keep battling and improve on last season’s 10th place finish in the division – Crawley’s first as a League One outfit.

“There’s ten football matches left and we want to finish on a real high. We want to finish as a minimum, above where we finished last season,” said the Birmingham-born defender.

“Coming to a place like this (Deepdale) it would have been a good place to have come away with a draw. There’s not much in it at this level, some real fine margins and if you get your noses in front then you’ve got a real chance.

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“We’ll go there looking to make amends. The last three defeats have been hard to take and we want to put it right.”

Sadler, who has played in every single league game for Crawley since his arrival at the club in the summer of 2012, is urging his team-mates to share the goals around as Reds continue to harbour ambitions for a late run towards the play-off places.

“They (strikers) are the ones that win you football matches. We’re desperate to score goals. Tubbsy (Matt Tubbs) is worth his weight in gold as he gives us defenders something to hold on to. We can’t just rely on Tubbsy though and need to score from all over the park.

“It was an opportunity to do well today and we’re disappointed to lose that unbeaten record (against Preston).”