'Just ridiculous' - Former Tottenham and Crystal Palace midfielder says fans who wrote off Crawley Town 'have gone quiet'

Roles – a product of the Tottenham Hotspur academy – was speaking after the Reds beat League One Charlton 4-3 in an entertaining EFL Trophy game on Tuesday night (September 5).

“There's such a difference to team morale from last year to this year,” the Cypriot youth international said. “I came in January so I saw it.

"We feel we want to be like a family as much as we are a team.

"I think we've already shocked a few people this year. Everyone was saying stuff about us getting the lowest points tally in League Two, which is just ridiculous.

"A lot of those people have gone quiet. On the first day, we beat Bradford who are supposed to be up there, and then went toe-to-toe with Salford and got a draw.

"We had League One opposition tonight and they didn't make that many changes. We've attacked them and shown what we are capable of. I think we are really good as a squad this year.”

Roles, 24 – a midfielder by trade, formerly of Crystal Palace and Woking – has had limited game-time so far this season but took his chance to impress against Charlton in a more advanced position on the pitch. Click here to see how he fared in our player ratings.

"I thought I done alright,” Roles said. “All of us out there had a point to prove in a positive way because we are all fighting for places.

"We've done ourselves a favour and put in a real good performance out there tonight.

"I've had chats with the manager and [coaching staff] saying how much I want to play. I was saying I was looking forward to this game because I didn't have a full pre-season this year.

"My mindset was looking forward to this game and taking my chance. I hope I showed what I can do where I love playing.

"Competition can be tough sometimes if someone is picked ahead of you. At the end of the day, we all want the same thing which is to win.

"Crawley comes first, it's not about the individual. We have got to respect the gaffer's decisions and win together on Saturday.”

On the chance to play at Wembley – if Crawley were to progress past the group stage for the first time – Roles added: “I was speaking about it with a few of the boys – It's a great pathway to Wembley.

"The competition for places is so high that when we get put in these games, we want to show why we want to play in the league. No one was playing in second gear, we were all at full throttle. If we can beat League One teams, I don't see why we can't beat Sutton and Aston Villa.”

Rafiq Khaleel’s late winning goal against Charlton was the 13th goal scored in Crawley’s last two games – following the 3-3 draw at Stockport. One week prior, Scott Lindsey’s side lost 6-0 at Swindon Town.

"If you look at out matches this season, we score loads of goals,” Roles said. “We showed it again tonight, we are such an attacking team.

"On the other hand, we need to be more compact defensively because we can't keep conceding as many goals as we do. That's not just the defensive unit, that's everyone.

"The gaffer says we need to be better at it. As much as we love attacking football and scoring goals, which is a massive positive, we also need to look at the defensive side and get better at that as well.

“You can't score four, five goals every game. It's not possible. If we want to do big things which we want to do as a team, we are going to have to get better defensively and start conceding less goals.”

Roles also spared a word for the boss, Lindsey.

He said: “Since he's come in, he has been unbelievable for us. It's such a joy to play in his system.

"He clearly knows what he wants and what he wants to do. We have bought into it but there are a few little things, more so defensively. If we do that, we can shock a few people this year. I think we already have.

“We work on stuff in training but there's no point if we don't do it on a matchday. We have to start listening as he knows what he is talking about.

“We were all gutted on Saturday away at Stockport. We came back from 2-0 down which showed our character and we want to hold onto that.

"In previous years, we may have been happy with a point. Because of the ambitions of the gaffer, we were all devastated. It goes to show what we are trying to do.

"We want to build momentum in the league now and hopefully get back to back home wins. It's a difficult place for people to come. I don't think a lot of people like coming to Crawley. We've got a good record here.”