'Nice people don't win championships' - Crawley Town boss rues 'missed opportunity' as his Reds side are 'too nice' in Doncaster Rovers defeat

Goals from Hakeeb Adelakun and Matt Biamou was enough for the visitors to claim the three points. Doncaster were down to 10 men for the last 20 minutes but Reds could not take advantage.

And Lindsey believes his side were ‘fluffy’ up top and were not aggressive enough.

He said: “There was a lack of conviction to win a game for me. I thought we were passive and didn’t play with the energy we have been playing with.

“We were not aggressive enough in the final third. Their first goal was really poor defending. We had him trapped on the side of the pitch with three players around him and we allowed him to get through and score from a tight angle.

"We had chances, we made chances to have chances but we were fluffy and not aggressive enough. No disrespect to Doncaster but given the seasons we have had and given the position we are in, if we are serious about being promoted or getting in the play-offs, we have to win and that’s the pressure I have put on the players. Players at this level need to play under that pressure.

“Doncaster had conceded more than 50% of their goals since the start of the year from crosses, we put in three in the first 20 minutes. Three? For me, nowhere near enough conviction.”

With the visitors down to ten men, a goal might has given the Reds the impetus to go and get a second. But Lindsey said: “If my auntie had wheels she would have been a shopping trolley. There’s not ifs, buts or maybes, we didn’t score.

“I said to the boys at half time if we didn’t score it was going to be hard graft for the defenders. All the time it was 0-0, you can see something dropping for them. Don’t make it 0-0 for long, go and score please, but we didn't.”

The result saw Reds drop to ninth in the table, but are just one point off seventh with two games in hand, thanks to other results going their way. And Reds will be looking to bounce back on Easter Monday with a trip to Newport. Lindsey said: “I said to the players ‘you are lucky, because everyone around us has drew or lost’.

"We have to recover and regroup but we can’t play in that manner, we have to finish teams off and we didn’t. At the end we had seven forwards on so why are we playing out of control.

“We were too nice, and we have to be aggressive. Listen, nice people don’t win championships, nice people end up in mid-table. We have to show our teeth more than we did today.

"I wish the game was tomorrow because we have to put today right.”