Scott Lindsey praised of his Crawley Town side as they booked their place in the EFL League Two Play-off final on Saturday night.
The Red Devils hammered MK Dons 3-0 and 5-1 across both legs to secure a visit to Wembley for the first time in the club’s history, which also saw a record broken for the biggest-ever EFL play-off win in the process.
A hat-trick from Danilo Orsi and goals from Jay Williams and Jack Roles denied Mike Williamson’s men of any chance of a potential comeback in a play-off game akin to Sheffield Wednesday‘s heroics against Peterborough United.
Speaking to club media after the match, Town boss Scott Lindsey gave kudos to his side, saying: “I’m really proud of how we played tonight, how we’ve attacked every game this season.
“I’ve got an unbelievable group of players and an unbelievable group of staff. We deserve this, it was clear to see how good of a side we are and that’s down to hard work on the training ground.
“A brilliant achievement but there’s no point getting to Wembley if you’re not going to go and win promotion.”
Being pre-season favourites for relegation, Crawley defied the odds to clinch a play-off spot on the final day after pipping Barrow to 7th place with a 2-0 win over Grimsby Town.
The 52-year-old addressed the predictions by many outlets, including The Real EFL, who tipped The Red Devils to finish bottom of the league. He said: “We were backed to go down, we’ve proved a lot of people wrong, and I want to thank everybody for not backing us.
“I want to thank everybody for that because it’s fuelled me and the players, so thanks for that, but we’re not there yet.
“We’ve got it all to do and we will still remain really humble, we’ll still remain really focused and professional.”
The Sussex club will face Crewe Alexandra in London on Sunday 19 May, after they overcame a two-goal deficit to beat Doncaster Rovers on penalties.
Wycombe Wanderers loanee Max Stryjek denied Hakeeb Adelakun from the spot to take Crewe to a play-off final for the first time in 12 years when they secured promotion to League One in a 2-0 win over Cheltenham Town.
On preparing for the trip to Wembley, Lindsey added: “We’re going to be business as usual. In terms of the preparation, in terms of how we attack this next game, how we recover first and foremost and then prepare for what is a big game.
“But the fans can just enjoy the week. They can get their tickets and look forward to what’s going to be a fantastic day.”
Writer’s View
Crawley Town have proved a lot of people wrong across this season, and their demolition of MK Dons may have been their best work yet. They comfortably dispatched the favourites to win the play-offs both home and away and now only have Crewe in their way to glory.
The Alex have struggled throughout the back stretch of the season, with the 2-0 win over Doncaster in the second leg being only their third win since the start of March. Judging by the brilliance going forward Crawley has in Danilo Orsi, their first-ever visit to Wembley could be a victorious one and take them back to League One for the first time since 2015.
