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‘We need to keep our heads up’ – Vito Mannone reflects positively on Crawley Town’s heartbreaking last-minute defeat to Watford Crawley Town goalkeeper Vito Mannone reflected very positively on an incredible defensive performance to keep Championship side Watford until their 99th-minute winner on Saturday (August 8). It took something special to get past Mannone this afternoon, with Marc Bola’s last-gasp screamer earning the Hornets a 1-0 win – and ending the Reds EFL Cup run in the first round. The former Premier League goalkeeper said: “It was a great performance. We competed until the end, and that’s football for you especially in England.” He added: “We put a shift in, everybody fought for each other and we were so close to taking them to penalties. We competed against a top Championship club so we need to keep our head up.” Not only did the Reds defend brilliantly throughout the game, they also had their own opportunities to win the game. Mannone said: “We had our chances. I thought we should have been more clinical. “It’s something we are working on as a coaching staff and as players. Going into the season, the way we play, we create moments in the game and we need to kill them.” Crawley’s player-coach added: “We are very solid at the back – that’s what we are trying to do, so it needs to be a base where we are keeping as many clean sheets as possible and then try to kill the opponents when it’s possible.” The 38-year-old gave an insight into what was said in the dressing post-game. Mannone said: “When we spoke inside the dressing room, the first thing that has been said is, ‘keep our heads up’. “And it’s a tough one to take because we fought until the last centimetre and we are falling short for nothing. “It’s somebody hitting an impossible shot with his weaker foot from the edge of the box – the last shot of the game – so as I said, it happens. We need to take all the positives and the negatives as well and try to learn from it and go from there like we do for every game.” Crawley return to action on Saturday, August 15 for their first league game of the season against Crewe Alexandra at the Broadfield Stadium in which the Reds will look to build on today’s performance.