Barker praises Crawley's northern grit (From The Argus)

Barker praises Crawley's northern grit

6:16pm Saturday 20th October 2012 in Sport By Steve Hollis

Crawley boss Ritchie Barker was delighted with his side's ability to see out a result as they won 1-0 at Hartlepool United.

Reds were dominant in the first half and should have had more to show for it than just Hope Akpan's 15th minute volley.

Former Albion goalkeeper Scott Flinders made fine saves from Jonathan Forte, Mike Jones and Josh Simpson while Forte had an effort ruled out for offside.

Hartlepool came back into the match in the second half but Reds defended well to keep their first clean sheet for five games.

Barker said: "In the first half we were excellent with the way we passed it and in the second half we showed grit and determination. Overall I felt we deserved to win the game.

"We had as many clear cut chances as we have had for quite a while in the first half and my only gripe was we should have been more than 1-0 up. While the lead was only one you are always at the mercy of the Gods but we dug in well."

The game was marred by a incident involving Kyle McFadzean in the second half which left the Crawley defender unconcious for a while but he recovered to walk off the pitch.

Barker added: "He was coughing up blood and it was a major concern for us. We'll have to see how he is for Tuesday (home to MK Dons)."