Steven Schumacher praised the character shown by his new charges as they launched a thrilling fightback to give Wanderers’ head coach a winning home start, writes Pete Oliver.
Wanderers twice trailed Crawley in a crazy second half but hit back from 3-1 down to level going into 12 minutes of added time which brought a 99th-minute winner courtesy of a Charlie Barker own-goal.
“I said I wanted it to be exciting and something the fans enjoyed coming to watch but I didn't have that in the back of my mind of how it would go,” admitted Schumacher, who capped a first full week in charge with the 4-3 win that lifted the Whites up to seventh place in League One.
“But full credit to the players, because to come back from 3-1 down, in any game, at any level, and come back and win it in the way that we did, they deserve huge credit.
“There are things in the performance that we can obviously do better. To concede three goals at home isn't ideal. I think the goals Crawley scored were all brilliant finishes, but we probably could have dealt with them in the early stages better.
“So, there are still things to work on from that point of view but I've just said to the lads the character they showed to come back the way we did – and for the lads who came off the bench to come on and finish the game the way that they did - was brilliant.”
Four goals in 17 minutes at the start of the second half saw Wanderers up against it after Jordi Osei-Tutu’s initial leveller failed to stem the flow.
But Alex Murphy’s first senior goal turned the tide back Wanderers’ way and Crawley – fighting against the drop – were blown away as Josh Sheehan equalised and the visitors were reduced to 10 men before Gethin Jones forced a seemingly inevitable winner.
“The way we are as a coaching staff, we are so positive,” added Schumacher. “We always go on to try and win games and thankfully we managed to do that - somehow.
“The most important thing was to try and get a win today, to get ourselves going and get some momentum building and we've done that, so I'm made-up.
“We wanted three points and we wanted to show the fans what we're about and that we care and the players have done that.
“The players have been brilliant to work with this week, I must say. We've put a lot of work in and spoken a lot about how we want things to go and how we're going to play, with and without the ball.
“They have been great to work with and seem like a really good group of lads. I'm delighted for them that their efforts this week have borne fruit and we've got three points on the board to keep us in the hunt.”
Wanderers scored four times for the third time this season despite the absence of top scorer Aaron Collins with a hip injury, which Schumacher is hopeful won’t be long-term.
And the Whites were also without recent signing Kion Etete, who will undergo a scan on a thigh injury which forced the frontman to forego a place on the bench after feeling it during the warm-up.
Watch Schumacher’s post-match interview in full on Wanderers TV