'Belief' - Crawley Town matchwinner reveals what helped them beat Bristol Rovers in the EFL Trophy

After going behind before the half time whistle in what Forster described as a “sloppy” half, he said they had more belief to turn it around.

He said: “In the second half we played so much better, we moved the ball quicker and that is just what helped us win the game. Belief is the main word. We all had the belief on the pitch in the second half that even though they are a league above us, we can play football as good as anyone and we showed that.”

Forster scored his second goal in the competition as the Reds progressed the furthest, they have ever gone in the competition in it’s current format. Forster said: “When I pick the ball up most times, I try and beat players, but it just kept opening-up and I thought ‘keep going, keep going’ and before I knew it, I was in on goal. I don’t know if I gave the keeper the eyes, or it was a scuffy finish, but we take them all day long. I have been doing a lot of extra shooting on the training pitch taking my game to the next level adding goals and assists and long may it continue.”

This is the second League One side Crawley have beaten in the competition following the Charlton Athletic win in the competition and Forster believes Reds can be seen as a threat going forward. “Everyone is taking it [EFL Trophy] more than seriously. It is a competition that we not only want to go far in but we want to win and putting down markers like tonight can only give us the confidence to go all the way.

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“We are not going to care who we come up against. We are confident we can beat anyone in this competition for sure. It is not going to change the way we play, it is not going to change our confidence levels, and it is not going to change our belief that we can win games.”

Since making the move from National League Bromley, Forster’s minutes have been managed in the league, so tonight was seen as a breakthrough moment in his career at the Reds. Forster said: “The bulk of my minutes have come in this competition, and I think tonight was definitely my best performance of the season so far and it has given me the confidence to kick on and show the Crawley fans more of what I am about and can do. Our bread and butter now, is going back to the league and play as many minutes, and state my claim for a starting place, that is all I want to do. I think no player is happy sitting on the bench or just coming on here and there. Every player should be knocking on a manager’s door and of course I want to be playing.”

Forster gave credit to Reds manager Scott Lindsey and his coaching staff for the work they do. He said: “Loads of stuff on the training pitch, loads of position specific stuff. The defenders go off with the defensive coach, midfielders and, wingers go off and we do our own match specific bits in the week to get us prepped for every situation that can come on the Saturday or Tuesday.”