Boss pleased by Crawley spirit

John Gregory praised his side's resilience after a late goal from substitute Conor Henderson earned Crawley a 1-0 win over Walsall.

The former Arsenal midfielder scored his first senior goal for the club in the 89th minute when he curled a free-kick from 25 yards over the defensive wall and into the top corner after he had been fouled by Walsall skipper Adam Chambers. Having conceded nine goals in their previous two games, Gregory made no apology for his team's back-to-basics approach but felt that the longer the contest went on that they might nick a decisive goal. He said: "The confidence has been knocked by our last two results and we needed to get back to how we were at the start of the season when we were extremely hard to beat. "We did that. They had some chances for sure but we defended well and then Conor got us a great winning goal. I know he's got that sort of quality in him because he does it every day on the training pitch. "The mood in the dressing room is fantastic now but we need to back it up with another good performance at Gillingham on Saturday." Walsall manager Dean Smith was happy enough with his side, describing their performance as "excellent." He said: "It wasn't frustrating because I thought we were excellent, it was one of those times where I'm quite pleased to talk after a defeat. "We were fantastic, the only thing we didn't do was take our chances when they came along. "You can't be concerned when you have 15 attempts on goal because on another day you might score five or six, but it is a worry that we haven't won the game, and now it means we've lost three on the spin." Smith felt the free-kick award which settled the contest was harsh. "We've been undone by a fantastic strike into the top corner but it wasn't even a free-kick," he added. "Adam Chambers has won the ball but, regardless of that, I thought we were excellent from start to finish and all that was missing was the finishing. "It's difficult to take given the manner of their goal but our performance was terrific; we've gone and battered them."