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Crawley Town manager Kevin Betsy is confident his side can deliver as they face a tough match away to Doncaster Rovers this weekend.

Doncaster came into this League Two season after being relegated from League One alongside Crawley’s previous league opponents, Crewe Alexandra. With a strong side, the Rovers have gained 14 points after the first nine games and are eight places higher than the Reds.

“We know what we need to do,” said Betsy ahead of this weekend’s game. “It’s probably two of the toughest away games to face back-to-back (Crewe Alexandra and Doncaster) with both coming from League One. But they (Doncaster) are off the back of three league defeats so their confidence will be mixed. If we focus on ourselves and have the right mentality and intensity, we’ll be confident.”

Crawley manager Kevin Betsy. Photo by Derek Martin Photography and Art.

After a five-game unbeaten run, Crawley have lost their last two games against Crewe and AFC Wimbledon. With the side desperate to turn things around, one of their more experienced midfielders, Jack Powell said, “We’re trying our best to win games. It’s been a transitional period as we know but I believe it’s only a matter of time before what we’ve got in the squad will produce. Hopefully that’ll come on Saturday.”

In their last two games, Betsy has complained about decisions made by the officials that have potentially, ruined the result for Crawley. On the recent standard of refereeing, Betsy said, “I feel there are some really good referees coming through the pathway, but a couple of the decisions in the last two games have been really poor. “Against Crewe, we deserved a blatant penalty, and their winning goal scorer should have been sent off earlier on. Then on Tuesday against Wimbledon, the referee played advantage but then went back and gave the opposition a penalty. But we can’t moan. We know the facts, what we need to do and the improvements we need to make.”

Crawley are without their star loanee James Balagizi this weekend after a call up to the England youth team. As a previous Three Lions youth coach himself, Betsy jokingly said, “I don’t care about England anymore, I’ve left that job. I wish James (Balagizi) all the best with the national team it’s great for him, but we’d prefer him to be with us. We understand his situation with the youth world cup next year but really, we’d like him playing against Doncaster. When you have good players at your club, it’s going to lead to international experienced but that’s why’ve you’ve got a squad of others waiting to step up.”

The Reds fans have been key to the side when Crawley have picked up positive results this season. With a tough match around the corner, Betsy said, “We’ve had a really good standard of support both home and away this season and it’s important for us for that to continue.”

Crawley have the chance to move four places up the table with a win this Saturday. As a club with a lot of media attention since the arrival of their new owners earlier this year, three points will certainly help justify the effort going in behind the scenes.

You can read more Crawley Town news here.

‘We know what we need to do’ – Crawley Town boss Kevin Betsy looks ahead to Doncaster Rovers trip