Red Devils boss looks back on showing at Brisbane Road and performance of referee Trevor Kettle

Crawley Town head coach Dermot Drummy conceded they gave themselves too much of a mountain to climb at Leyton Orient on Monday in League Two.

The O’s found themselves three goals ahead at half time after Sam Dalby’s opener was followed by Paul McCallum’s brace.

But the Red Devils fought back after the break with Teddy Mezague scoring an own-goal before Enzio Boldewijn netted.

It still wasn’t enough to give the Sussex outfit a share of the spoils at Brisbane Road after a Boxing Day cracker.

“You can’t go to sleep and do the things we did in the first 11 minutes. You are asking players to do their jobs and they weren’t doing them,” said Drummy.

“Sometimes it is hard as a coach to put your finger on it because I always look at myself first if something goes wrong.

“I have to say there are elementary errors again and it gives you the mindset of why is this happening or maybe you can’t do it.

“The players have to wake up and changes were made. Second half we brought a stronger mentality on the pitch, but we gave ourselves a mountain to climb.

“It is a great entertaining game for the fans, but as a coach I look at that as a point dropped if I’m honest.”

Dalby opened the scoring for Orient after four minutes before McCallum made it 2-0 just seven minutes later.

Crawley were second best throughout the first half, yet it was a different story when Drummy spoke with the players at the break.

The former Arsenal youth coach was disappointed, however, his squad didn’t follow his original instructions at Brisbane Road.

“We started with a 4-5-1 at Orient and I thought we actually didn’t and went gung-ho initially,” said Drummy.

“The first 10 to 15 minutes was supposed to be like at Crewe Alexandra, but we didn’t apply that because players went to sleep.

“Yes it is about getting back to the DVD and pointing it out, but somewhere along the line you’ve got to say to players this is the responsibility of what we ask you to do.”

The performance of referee Trevor Kettle left both sets of supporters frustrated on Boxing Day.

Drummy asked the experienced official why he gave a penalty for Orient when Jordan Roberts tackled Gavin Massey.

Crawley’s boss then admitted Kettle’s decision not to award O’s another spot-kick in the second half shocked him.

“I asked the referee very politely at half time why he gave the penalty when the ball went in the direction of the players foot,” said Drummy.

“He said Jordan hit the body first, played through the player and then took the ball and therefore that’s a penalty.

“That’s his decision and you’ve got to go with that and then Andy Edwards must be questioning the second one because that looked a stonewall penalty.

“But I’ve always said about referee decisions they are what they are and I forget them on the coach. I can’t do anything about them.”