Crawley Town boss says his side must remain 'professional and humble' after beating MK Dons in League Two play-off semi-final first leg

Goals from Liam Kelly, Jay Williams and Ronan Darcy ensured Reds go to Stadium MK for the second leg with the advantage – but Lindsey was keen to reiterate it was only half-time.

In last season’s League One play-offs, Peterborough lost their semi-final despite leading 4-0 after the first leg. With this in mind Lindsey was keen to send a message to the players and the fans.

You can a recap of the action here https://www.sussexexpress.co.uk/sport/football/crawley-town-vs-mk-dons-live-excitement-builds-ahead-of-league-two-play-offs-4619520

He said: “I am really pleased, I thought we played well. I thought we scored some really good goals and I thought we had a real energy about us tonight but we are only at half time and we have to be respectful of that and respectful of them because they are a really good side.

“We have given ourselves a really good chance now but we have to remain professional, recover properly and prepare properly for what’s going to be a really tough game at their place on Saturday.”

Lindsey would normally celebrate with the fans after the game with a trademark celebration, but he just applauded their support. He said: “I know they wanted me to but there’s no way in a million years I was going to do that because it’s half time and I am not celebrating tonight and I have told the players not to celebrate tonight.

“It is a pretty good first half and we are delighted with our performance and of course the result but there is still a lot to do.”

Crawley Town player ratings: Midfielder gets 10/10, defenders get 9/10 and 8s for the rest as Reds dominate MK Dons

A pivotal moment came in the first few minutes when a ball over the top let Max Dean run clear and round Corey Addai. He side-footed into what seemed like an empty net before Will Wright pulled off a sensational goal line clearance.

When asked how important that could be in the tie, Lindsey said: “Let’s hope it is. We play with a lot of risk, that’s what I have asked the players to do all season, we are never going to change. We went man for man which can catch you out sometimes, especially with a long ball down the middle. But we have coached the players to run really, really hard and fast when the ball does go south. And Will certainly did that with a great bit of defending but I thought we defended well all night.”

And when asked about his heartrate in that moment, he said: “I was the calmest one, I have to be, I have asked the players to play like that and it’s risk versus reward and we got it right tonight."

MK Dons finished fourth in the Division and have a reputation of playing out from the back, very similar to Crawley. But tonight their keeper was forced to clear long rather than pass out thanks to Reds’ press.

But Lindsey thought they did the same to Addai. “I thought our keeper did as well so I have to give them credit on how they pressed us. I felt we could have made more passes from the back but we didn’t hook their centre forward in as much as I wanted to. But when we did play long we kind of got in anyway.

“We knew it was going to be a very tactical game because their manager is a good coach and they are a really good side, we have just got to remain professional and humble because it’s not done yet.”