Johnson shows trust in players

Lee Johnson shows his delight at the end of the game.

ATHLETIC won npower League One status for another season with a third successive win, leaving manager Lee Johnson hailing his players.

Goals from Matt Smith and a last-gasp winner from Jean-Yves Mvoto provided three points against a Crawley side who will feel aggrieved not to have claimed a draw

More success against the odds is what Johnson can now aim for, as the youngest manager in the Football League gets stuck into the task of putting together plans for 2013-14.

“It wasn’t vintage from either side, but to be fair the lads put in two monumental performances over the last week and I knew they would be a bit leggy,” said Johnson.

“The players stuck to the game plan. Though it wasn’t a fantastic display offensively, defensively we did okay.

“We are safe now, which is fantastic. The players have really applied themselves.”