'I want the players to believe it' - Crawley Town boss wants to talk about Wembley play-off hopes

The Reds are famously one of the only EFL team never to played at the famous stadium – old or new. But this season could be their chance.

Scott Lindsey’s men are in prime position for a play-off spot. A run of five wins and two draws in the last eight games sees them currently sit in ninth place, just one point off seventh, but crucially with two games in hand. To put it bluntly, it’s in their hands. Some managers at this point would say ‘let’s not think about that, just focus on the next game’. But not Lindsey. He wants to talk about Wembley, especially with his players.

"I want the players to believe we can do it. If no one talks about it, then there’s no belief there. I have already said to the players, ‘let’s keep going as we are and keep churning the games out. We have a target in our minds what we think will give us probably enough points to get us there’.

“If we do get there I will back my team over two legs against anybody and I would back them against anybody at Wembley. I want to give that message to the players and if I am shooting the gun too early, I am not bothered. I want the players to really believe that I believe that. And I do believe that and that’s why I say it. If the words are spoken at least it plants seeds in the players minds and they will think ‘the gaffer actually believes we can get there’ and I want the players to feel that.”

Crawley have a few tough games coming up. In the next six games they face the three title-chasers Stockport County, Mansfield Town and Wrexham. But their last four games, on paper, are quite generous with three of them being at the Broadfield Stadium. So it is in their hands, but Lindsey always believed that.

"It has always has been in our hands, and it’s never been a pipedream in my opinion I think that you know when we started working with the squad in the summer I always felt that this squad could do special things and I still do and I’ve always believed in it.”

On Saturday, Reds travel to Tranmere, who have beaten Mansfield Town and Wrexham in their last two games. Reds will be without Jay Williams, who is on international duty and the injured trio of Dion Conroy, Ben Gladwin and Liam Kelly.