Crawley Town attacker Boldewijn relieved to finally get home win

Three first half headed goals from by James Collins, Joe McNerney and himself, all from free-kicks in the space of 10 minutes set them up to go into half-time with a welcome 3-0 lead. He said: “We needed a good home win to show the fans we are able to do it.

“We knew we needed the three points, it wasn’t easy but I’m happy we did it.”

Boldewijn agreed that the three goals in a few minutes changed the game.

He said: “They (Orient) came here to win but two good free-kicks by Josh Payne led to two early goals and a third one from me from a good ball by Andre Blackman gave us the lead.

“Then in the second half we kept it 0-0, so it was a good performance.”

Boldewijn revealed he had been told to go forward by Dermot Drummy and in one run headed Blackman’s ball past the keeper and over the line. He admitted they should have added to their lead in the second half with him twice missing the target.

Boldewijn added: “We could have had some more goals and were looking for them to get the crowd celebrating again. “It’s always good to play the football we can play - we haven’t always shown it in the last few weeks.

“We were looking for a good performance today and I’m glad we did it.”

Boldewijn is enjoying his first full season in English football, having joined Crawley in the summer from Holland.

He said: “In Holland I had a few years where I didn’t play in the first XI, so I worked hard on my left foot and with my headers. Here I’ve started nearly every game and I’m getting stronger every week.

“I love it here and want to score a few more goals for the team. It’s more physical here and I have to defend a lot more. I had a few bad performances where I wasn’t in the team for a few weeks.

“Next season is important as there are a few boys who are here for a few years and we can build and get the team higher.”