Graham Kavanagh with Crawley post match reaction
Manager Graham Kavanagh gave us his reaction to the draw at Crawley on Tuesday night.
“I think I have to give credit to the lads because they gave us a very honest and energetic performance,” he said. “We looked like a team who wanted to win the game but, yet again, we just couldn’t manage to get the goal we needed.
“It can’t be coincidence and it can’t be bad luck that we keep talking about the same things because it’s happened too many times. We’ve had a horrible March and April and we haven’t had the results we wanted. We’ve lacked quality but we’re going to keep fighting.
“I was very proud of the players because I knew it would be a difficult situation for them. I thought they gave a very good account of themselves.”
“We’ve explained it before but we’ve been playing with a bit of fear factor over us,” he added. “That does impact on performance levels. It stops you from doing and trying things and we actually told them to play like they had already been relegated when we sent them out for this one.
“I don’t want to see the fear in them again because it has made it so hard for some of them. I told them to enjoy their football and they gave us that. That does make you feel proud but there is also a heck of a lot of sadness because we have to be honest and say that it does now look like we have lost our League One status.”
“We’re gutted for everyone connected with the club that it has happened,” he confirmed. “Look at the fans, they have been magnificent. They are an absolute credit to themselves and to the football club. They criticise because they’re concerned and I completely understand that. They have deserved much better results and we’re working really hard in every way to bring that for them. We’re all devastated with the situation but we want to be the ones to put it right and to hopefully push this club forward.”
“We had a few selection decisions to make ahead of the trip down here and Lee Miller didn’t come with us,” he said. “We left him out of the squad for disciplinary reasons. He’s told me it was a misunderstanding because I wanted to have a team meeting after the game on Saturday. He missed it and I took exception to that. I felt, if that was going to be the case, I only wanted players who were going to be committed, and that’s why we made our selections in the manner we did.”
“Planning for next season has already started,” he confirmed. “Things are probably a bit clearer now but we are going to do all we can over the course of the summer to reshape the group and football club. We need to see if we can get a structure in place that will help us in all areas so that we can all push forward.
“We won’t leave any stone unturned to make sure this happens. I feel responsible for where this season has gone, even though there are reasons behind it. The feeling right now is that we are all in this together and everybody wants to put it right. There are lessons we need to learn and there are things we need to put in place to make sure something like this doesn’t happen again.
"I am more determined than ever to make sure we pick up and start going forward again. I hope to be given that chance and, like I say, the planning starts now so that we can get this club back to where it deserves to be and we can start enjoying some success."