Just back.

Odd thing to say but I think the early goal killed it as a spectacle. We tend to prefer to generate an atmosphere when we’re pushing for an equaliser or have been on the end of a series of bad decisions. That’s not to say I’m pleased to see 3-0, but the air seemed to go out of it early on. And the disallowed goal just added to the weirdness.

Bit of an odd game, thought they were slightly better first half, but I'll take the three points, thought Kiernan got into some good positions but Crawley knew they only had to force him onto his right foot, might be a better idea to play him on the left hand side instead. Would love to see us take more chances and shoot more often,all in all I'll take the points and move on to the next game. UTM

Green did well when he came on. Won the ball several times, linked up decently. No reason to criticise him on that short appearance.

On the other hand, Kiernan was so frustrating today. Did some good things and worked his socks off, but never successfully managed to get the final shot or pass away. In the second half there were a couple of occasions when he was away down the right and he quite simply didn't even glance across to see if anyone was up with him. If he had, a simple square ball would have led to a 1 on 1 with their keeper (who looked incredibly young and naive - academy player?).

Crawley had 3 or 4 good players, most of them playing on their right hand side and Glennon struggled at times, to be honest. A great free-kick to open the scoring but I don't feel confident with him defending at the moment. Luckily, they had very little up front or in the box so we managed to get away with sloppy play way more than would normally be the case. The fact that we were poor but still scored three despite managing to waste lots of opportunities to put someone through on goal shows why they are around the bottom of the table at present.

Efete still doesn't look like a full-back to me. His positioning isn't right and he gets caught ball-watching too often but, that said, he wasn't too bad today.

I thought Taylor did well today so was pleased to see him get his goal. I can only assume that Hurst thought a full game would be helpful for his fitness because, otherwise, you'd have expected him to come off before the end to rest his legs.

Crocombe didn't put a foot wrong today and the difference between the two keepers was night and day. If anything, I'd say he looks a better player this season than he did last, which is a pleasant surprise.

Quoted from Maringer

Green did well when he came on. Won the ball several times, linked up decently. No reason to criticise him on that short appearance.

On the other hand, Kiernan was so frustrating today. Did some good things and worked his socks off, but never successfully managed to get the final shot or pass away. In the second half there were a couple of occasions when he was away down the right and he quite simply didn't even glance across to see if anyone was up with him. If he had, a simple square ball would have led to a 1 on 1 with their keeper (who looked incredibly young and naive - academy player?).

Crawley had 3 or 4 good players, most of them playing on their right hand side and Glennon struggled at times, to be honest. A great free-kick to open the scoring but I don't feel confident with him defending at the moment. Luckily, they had very little up front or in the box so we managed to get away with sloppy play way more than would normally be the case. The fact that we were poor but still scored three despite managing to waste lots of opportunities to put someone through on goal shows why they are around the bottom of the table at present.

Efete still doesn't look like a full-back to me. His positioning isn't right and he gets caught ball-watching too often but, that said, he wasn't too bad today.

I thought Taylor did well today so was pleased to see him get his goal. I can only assume that Hurst thought a full game would be helpful for his fitness because, otherwise, you'd have expected him to come off before the end to rest his legs.

Crocombe didn't put a foot wrong today and the difference between the two keepers was night and day. If anything, I'd say he looks a better player this season than he did last, which is a pleasant surprise.

Good post. To pick up on a couple of things, imagine McAtee and Scannell replacing Kiernan and JMD in that side with possibly Hunt or Morris also available.

With regard to Crawley, I thought their number 38 stood out, turns out he’s a loanee from West Brom, most of the rest flattered to deceive.

It's not too bad when you are sitting just outside the playoffs with a game in hand over some, yet we have not remotely hit top form yet, don't seem to have a preferred system, don't know our best 11, have had a raft of injuries and our talisman has been out since the first game.

We can play some lovely football, but ironically not today and we win 3-0. It will be very interesting to see how things develop when most players are fit and ready for selection, including McAtee, and whether we will settle on a formation/lineup as the season develops, but I guess at the moment Hurst is just taking things one week at a time and trying to get enough points on board to keep in touch till everything settles down.

When it does settle, I hope to see a lot more of Cropper (not just for those throws, but what a weapon to have).

Quoted from pontoonlew

3 points is the most important thing but as others have said, it was a strange 3-0.

The atmosphere is poor because we fail to entertain for vast periods of football matches, Crawley were there for the taking and we didn’t really seem arsed.

It says a lot when it’s hard to pick a MOTM. Clifton, Holohan and Glennon were good, Kahn not far behind.

Kiernan is a downgrade on Sousa, 99% of what he does is the wrong decision and he seems incapable of striking a football cleanly.

Pleased to see Efete look much better too.

Onto Stockport and a good points total so far.

Efete only looked better because he didn't go near the ball.  When he got up the pitch he was too slow in his decision making to do anything effective with the ball.

i noticed richardson wasn't on the bench any news on his injury /illness i'm presuming it was one or the other

Richardson has a groin strain

Quoted from Lincoln Mariner 56

Very poor game and I still can’t determine what our style of football is, or is meant to be. Bizarre that you win 3-0 but leave the stadium feeling down as we just didn’t put together any decent moves. Kiernan just not good enough and it’s unlike Hurst not to identify pretty quickly when he’s got a signing wrong but to keep selecting this guy ahead of Orsi is baffling.

Surprised to hear the guy on RH suggesting that bringing Green on made the difference as he doesn’t even look capable of running never mind playing. Disappointed with a few of Hurst’s signings but Green and Kiernan just don’t look good enough.

Oh well still 3 points and we can obviously play better than we did today so moaning over and now will just enjoy the fact we won 3 points.

I kind of agree about Greens introduction and the change of us shape that came with it, I think it helped pin them back as we were then pressing higher.
Someone said post match they had over 60% possession so keeping that possession in their third of the pitch helped build the pressure.

Have to say I found Hursts post match very refreshing, it’s easy to win 3-0 and say everything is great but he didn’t and he clearly knows there are big areas to fix.

To need those areas to fix but still be where we are in the table is quite encouraging