Crawley Town Manager Defends Under-Fire Star

Crawley Town manager Scott Lindsey has defended Jay Williams following criticism over his tackle on Brighton & Hove Albion’s Matt O’Riley during last Tuesday’s Carabao Cup match.

The £25 million midfielder, who recently joined Brighton from Celtic, had to be carried off the pitch just six minutes into the game after a late challenge from Williams, which has since been confirmed to require ankle surgery. Williams wasn’t booked for the challenge, but he was booed throughout the tie.

Crawley lost the game 4-0, courtesy of two goals in both halves. Crawley, criticised for their robust approach, also had Jack roles sent off for a bad challenge in the dying minutes, further angering the 19,000-strong home support. Speaking about the incident after the game, Lindsey emphasised that Williams, 23, did not intend to injure O’Riley and is “genuinely upset” by the outcome.

“In my opinion, it was a genuine attempt to win the ball. If you look at him, his eyes are fixated on the ball the whole time, and he mis-timed it. It’s as simple as that,” Lindsey said.

“I think that the referee’s decision to do nothing about it has made it a whole lot worse. There should have been something done, whether that was a yellow or a red remains to be seen,” he said.

Lindsey also addressed the backlash from fans, who have accused Williams and Crawley of “thuggery” on social media. “It wasn’t a great tackle. I’m not sitting here saying it was a great tackle because it wasn’t. It was a bad tackle. That’s really clear, but it was a genuine attempt to win the ball.”

The Crawley manager revealed that he has spoken to Williams about the situation, and he’s genuinely upset about what has happened.

“He’s a really good kid,” added Lindsay, who has already been linked with jobs at Preston and Blackpool this summer. “He was the first to try and find out how the boy was afterwards, and he wanted to have some of their coaching staff’s phone numbers to apologise. That just shows the measure of the kid.”

Brighton manager Fabian Hurzeler confirmed that it a bad injury, needing surgery on his ankle. “I can’t say how long we expect him to be out,” added the Seagulls boss. “It’s a tough one for us. We are trying to support him as best as we can.”

The Danish international made his name at MK Dons after being released by Fulham. He later secured a move to Celtic for a fee believed to be around £1.5 million, helping them to three SPFL titles, two Scottish Cups and a League Cup. He was called up by Denmark in 2023 and has appeared twice for his country.

Site Opinion

Sorry, but there’s no defending that challenge. Crawley set out to bully their illustrious opponents, and instead came off looking like merciless thugs. There’s a lot to admire about Lindsay and the job he has done there, but this incident will blot their copybook.

There’s no duty to protect players from tough tackles, which is part and parcel of the game, but it was incumbent on the referee to handle this differently. It is, in our opinion, a red card offence, and yet he gave nothing. Perhaps if he had punished it, there wouldn’t be a need to defend the player.

Either way, it would help O’Riley, who will now miss much of the season.