• 19 hours ago
Crawley Town club captain Dion Conroy gave his reaction after his side lost 1-0 to League One high-fliers Birmingham City at the Broadfield Stadium. It was Conroy's first minutes on the pitch in four months and talked about how difficult it has been for him being on the sidelines
Transcript
00:00Thank you for joining us. Obviously, defeat here tonight at the Broadfoot Stadium, but for large parts of the game, I think that's probably a performance the lads can be proud of against one of the best sides of the division. Can I get your thoughts on it?
00:09Yeah, I think we went toe-to-toe with them throughout the whole game. The goal wasn't really anything where they cut us open, it was just a cross and they got on the end of it.
00:20But, yeah, the boys, the whole team, we performed really well and I don't think we gave them pretty much anything. So it was a shame to lose the game. I think we at least deserved a point.
00:31But, as you say, they're probably the best team in the league. Their budget is crazy and the fact that we nearly got the point and stopped them from scoring is a big positive to take.
00:42But, yeah, we've just got to pick our heads up and move on to the next game now against Aiton Oran.
00:47Yeah, and I think people will naturally go, oh, you can't talk about money, but we can when it's a striker whose costs, you know, with the money they paid for him, they could probably buy the club three times over.
00:58So, you know, it does speak volumes, doesn't it, about the levels of this league. But it's also a positive to take that we're in the same league as this side. You know, it speaks volumes about the work done last season and, you know, it's something the club can be proud of, isn't it?
01:10100 per cent. And I think everyone watching that game wasn't really anything in that game at all, watching that.
01:16So the boys can be proud of us, proud of ourselves. And next time we go to their ground, hopefully we can get the three points.
01:24But, yeah, we can we can take the positives from this and move on to now a busy period.
01:28Yeah, and obviously a massive positive for yourself. Your first appearance of the regular season, let alone start. How did it feel?
01:35Yeah, I'm feeling the effects now. But, yeah, it was an amazing, incredible feeling to be back out on the pitch. It's been one of the worst four and a half months I've experienced in my life for different reasons with this injury.
01:49So the fact that I was back out on the pitch is just so happy to be back out there with the boys and playing under the new manager, which was amazing.
01:57And what a game to come back for. And, yeah, I felt we did really well as a team and definitely don't think we deserve to lose it.
02:04But it's football and we just got to pick ourselves up now and move on to Laing Norway.
02:09Was a start against, as we said, one of the best sides in the division what you'd hoped for as your first appearance back?
02:14Or was it just happy to be sort of thrown back in? Or would you have hoped for a little cameo first?
02:18No, honestly, I love playing in the big games and that's why we're in this game.
02:24That's why all of us are in this profession is to play in these big games and on Sky Sports and everything like that.
02:29So, yeah, I was buzzing for it. Just couldn't wait to get started. And it was my goal to try and get back for Peterborough.
02:36It was just a little bit too early. So Birmingham was the next one. And, yeah, I felt I did all right tonight.
02:41And fitness is close. I'm just going to build over it now with a busy Christmas period.
02:48And then, yeah, we'll see how January plays out with the games.
02:52And hopefully we just get better and better as a team and we can push on up the league.
02:57Yeah, lots of praise from yourself or by yourself, sorry, from the pundits tonight.
03:02So you can't have done that badly for your first appearance back.
03:06Did you feel any sort of rust or did you feel good? I mean, you looked good out there.
03:11I have to say I've been back training now for two weeks. We're just under two weeks.
03:15And the first few sessions, I felt I didn't know where the ball was with my feet.
03:20But that quickly went after a couple of sessions and we did 11-11 earlier in the week.
03:24And that's when I really kind of got my confidence back and felt pretty good.
03:28So now it's just about getting the fitness back.
03:31And it was just more precautionary coming off at the end because, like you said, we've got a crazy schedule.
03:36Five games in 13 days, which is hectic and crazy.
03:40But that's a different story. But I've just got to look after myself now, do all the right things and recover.
03:45And all the rest of the boys have to as well.
03:47So, yeah, just looking forward to keep starting and help leading the boys and get us into a position where we deserve to be.
03:54Because we definitely don't deserve to be in the position that we're at the minute.
03:57Thank you, Dion.
03:58Dion, Rob's been full of praise for you, why you've been injured and saying how good you've been around the camp.
04:04How supportive has the club been to you and the players been to you while you've been injured?
04:09When the gaffer came in, it was a very difficult period for me.
04:14There was a lot of uncertainty with what I was being diagnosed with, with my injury, which caused my injury to prolong itself, which was very, very, very frustrating.
04:25I was being told a certain time it would come to that certain time and then it was like, oh, no, that's not right.
04:30So it was a very difficult situation.
04:33The gaffer was amazing.
04:34He was like, look, do what you got to do off the pitch and back home and make sure you're doing the right recovery.
04:39So he was fantastic.
04:40And obviously all the boys have been really good around me.
04:44But there's nothing better than being back involved in playing.
04:47And I just love playing with these boys now and training with them day in, day out.
04:51This is the first time I've, last two weeks, first time I've trained with some of these boys.
04:55And they're a really good group.
04:57And we've got potential to do really well.
04:59This Christmas period is crucial.
05:01We get a couple of really good wins that can propel you to really have a really good second half of the season.
05:06So that's the goal.
05:08Yeah, it's a bit of a tough run over Christmas, isn't it?
05:11Five games in 13 days, isn't it?
05:13I mean, how do you think, are you going to cope through that?
05:16Hopefully you will.
05:17Yeah, you have to think that.
05:18You've got to think positive.
05:19So we've got some games that we're travelling quite far for.
05:25Again, the schedules, I don't know who does the schedule.
05:29Do you think it's unfair, the schedule?
05:30Of course it is.
05:31Of course it is.
05:34But that's football.
05:35It's been like that for a long time.
05:36I've obviously been playing these games, these fixtures, around this time of the year.
05:40And it's always a bit crazy.
05:42And you've just got to prepare your body for it.
05:44And you've got to prepare yourself mentally, really.
05:46That's the biggest thing.
05:47You can always recover your body.
05:49Making sure you get home in downtime and relaxing
05:52and just getting yourself ready for the next game is the biggest thing.
05:55So I'm sure the gaffer said it.
05:57A lot of the boys that aren't starting will start.
06:00You're going to need everyone to be on it and be ready.
06:04So, yeah, just looking forward to getting these games done.
06:08Do you think your minutes will have to be matched as you've recovered from a long-term injury?
06:12Yeah, that was the reason why I came off today, obviously.
06:15I've been injured for four and a half months.
06:18I've been training two weeks.
06:21I've just got to manage myself and the club will manage me.
06:24Hopefully I can get to 90 minutes soon.
06:27Whether that will be later or not depends how I feel.
06:30We don't know.
06:31But I felt pretty fine out there.
06:34I didn't feel like I had to come off.
06:36But it's just precautionary and making sure I don't do something.
06:42Because I want to play 90 minutes and I'm my worst enemy sometimes.
06:45So I've just got to be cautious.
06:48Just very quickly, you've been watching the players.
06:51How impressed have you been with how they've gelled together?
06:54Because it's a whole new squad again, isn't it?
06:56Yeah, of course.
06:57It's always difficult.
07:00Even at the start of last season, it was just getting that chemistry.
07:06I think last year what was good, we had a small little core group that was from the previous season,
07:11which helped gel.
07:13But this year it's felt like it's a completely different squad.
07:18And then you change manager.
07:20It's difficult.
07:22But I think you can see from the performances the last month that we play good football.
07:27It's just a couple of little things that haven't gone our way and small little errors that we can iron out.
07:32We'll be a really good side come the second half of the season.
07:36Brilliant. Thanks to you.
07:37Well done tonight.

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