Jimmy Quinn shared his thoughts on the 1-1 draw at Crawley.

With United desperate for every point in the battle to stay up, and with every club below having several games in hand, it was heartbreakingly cruel to see Crawley equalise in stoppage time after United had led from the 41st minute and dominated much of a very tense game.

Robbie Simpson gave United the lead with his ninth goal of the season but it was Marcus Richardson, released by United in January after scoring just three goals since last August, who struck in stoppage time to steal two points from the U's.

"I thought we did very well," said the disappointed Quinn, who explained why stalwart defenders Andy Duncan and Mark Peters were withdrawn in the second half; Peters just two minutes before Richardson struck.

"There were one or two players out there today who haven't played for a while and they were very leggy. I got the message that Andy was struggling a bit, and then Mark Peters said he couldn't run any more, but at the end I had a supporter coming up and having a shout at me.

"We're in a position where we need all the help and support we can get. It's easy to be critical, but the season has been in this pattern all season where it's very, very hard and it's going to be like that right to the death, and I keep saying that everybody needs to stick together.

"I'm very, very disappointed," he added. "It feels like we've got beat because we took the lead and we've played some decent football and I thought the two new lads (Dan Gleeson and Chris Flynn) slotted in well. Crawley put us under a lot of pressure with long balls and we just got caught out near the death, but I can't fault anybody's effort.

"I thought Paul Crichton had a terrific game in goal after coming back and he used his experience well today, Robbie took his goal well, and we just need at times to weather the storm, which we did for long periods but I thought we were too deep and too on top of our keeper.

"It was disappointing I had to take two of my experienced players off but it was a necessity more than tactical," he stressed.

"Then of course we had some young players at the back and when Tony Scully, who has always caused problems at this level, crossed the ball from 15 yards outside the box we were still in the same position. We've got to learn to try to squeeze the play; you see more people score from six yards than eighteen yards and that's what happened to us.

"It's disappointing and you feel for the lads but we've got to keep believing and plugging away."

Quinn made six changes, including recalls for veteran goalkeeper Paul Crichton and defender Mark Peters, and he explained, "We've got a lot of young players at the club and I just think that in the position we're in it's an awful lot to ask of them. We need as much experience as we can get and I think the lads did a very good job today.

"Dan Gleeson looked very good and young Chris Flynn is a good footballer and did very well on the left. I'd just like to see us keep the ball a bit better at times because Crawley did push four up, which meant that we had a couple of spare men in the midfield and we should have kept better possession.

"But there are a lot of positives to be taken out of the game and that's what we've got to concentrate on. We're in a fight for our lives, we've got seven cup finals left and people can be critical, but we've had a problem all season.

"We've won ten games since I got here and done particularly well away from home, but it's too easy to be critical. Let's give the players and everybody concerned the best possible chance to try and get out of the position we're in, and you're not going to do that by ranting and raving.

"We need to look at how we played, particularly in that first 45 minutes, because we played well for long patches, but we said at half-time that if we got another goal we could kill the game off. Although we had one or two efforts and Robbie's had a couple from outside the box, we didn't really have anything clear-cut to take a two-nil lead, which probably would have won us the game.

"Then Crawley resorted to banging long balls into the box and pushing more men forward and it was difficult. We did have to scramble a few times, Paul Crichton made a couple of brilliant saves and we hung in there, and it's disappointing that they scored in stoppage time - and I don't know where that five minutes came from.

"But we've got to keep our heads up and be positive. There was a lot good play today and a lot of good effort from the players and we have to take that into the next game."

United are next in action at Northwich Victoria next Sunday at 2pm.

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