Crawley manager Scott Lindsey was at a complete loss to explain how his side came away from Wigan with nothing to show for their efforts after a 1-0 Sky Bet League One defeat.
The visitors dominated in every area except the one that matters most, with Thelo Aasgaard heading home the only goal at the Brick Community Stadium on the half-hour via a deflection off Joy Mukena.
It was a first defeat of the campaign for Crawley – and one the manager did not feel was warranted.
“I was really pleased with the performance, I thought we were outstanding against a really good side,” assessed Lindsey.
“We dominated, we had 72 per cent possession, we had 14 shots to their two, they only had one shot on target. But of our 14 chances, we only had three on target, so we have to improve on that.
“Towards the end, we were hoping and praying we could find an opening, but when you play against good opposition in League One… it’s not like League Two, it’s very different.
“You’re playing against good units, good individuals, and when they go 1-0 up, it’s always going to be hard to break them down.
“I’ve said to the players that if they perform like that every week, 99 times out of 100 we’ll win the game.
“We’re all about the performances, because the results will usually follow… I’m really big on that process, and the players know that.
“Today, we fell short in terms of putting the ball in the net, which is.not so much frustrating as annoying.
“For all the ball we had in their final third, I thought we should have asked more questions of them than we did.”
For Wigan boss Shaun Maloney, it was an important first win of the campaign after losing their opening three games in all competitions.
“It felt like a very big victory for us, very hard fought,” he said. “I maybe didn’t see the last 20 minutes going like that, but sometimes you just need to find a way to win a game.
“I really liked what we did in the first half, we really went after them and caused them problems.
“In the second half you probably saw a group of men who were desperate to win a game.
“We definitely found ourselves dropping deeper and deeper, but we found a way to win.
“We played amazingly well in our first game against Charlton, the performance was so good, and we lost the game to a mistake at the end.
“The thing about football is sometimes you win games you don’t deserve to win, and you lose games you don’t deserve to lose.
“Today was a bit strange, because we didn’t have a great deal of the ball, but I never felt under massive threat in terms of them creating lots and lots of chances.
“They’re a good side, they played very well, they had a lot of possession, especially with their goalkeeper, who starts everything off.
“But for the effort and desire our players put in, I thought we got what we deserved in terms of the result.”
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