Crawley Town defender Mark Wright believes that playing their FA Cup third round tie against Leeds United helped them secure one of the season's big upsets in the competition.
A second-half blitz from John Yems' side sealed a comprehensive 3-0 victory over Marcelo Bielsa's Premier League side, with former The Only Way Is Essex star Wright coming off the bench in stoppage time to make his debut for the club after he signed on a non-contract basis last year.
The victory will go down as one of Crawley's greatest ever scalps, but owing to the ongoing Covid-19 pandemic, no fans were present to take it in.
Although Wright lamented the empty stands, he believes that is may have handed his side an advantage.
"Yeah, it would have been incredible," he told BBC Breakfast. "But in a way that may have helped us, because Leeds, that's what they rise to, even more so than us. But the boys were just buzzing to be there playing, knowing it was on TV, knowing that they had a point to prove, knowing that we were against PL side. It was a massive buzz for the boys, it gave us a spring in the our step."
Wright also paid tribute to the way his team-mates approached the cup tie.
"The boys started and you could see that from the minute go, there was no giving up to Leeds, they wanted to win, they wanted to get to the next round of the FA Cup and that's exactly what they've done.
"Being a spectator sat there watching the game, especially when you're signed to the club, just playing that well, it was a moment that I'll never forget, it was incredible."
Crawley will discover their fourth and potential fifth round opponents in tonight's draw, while Leeds now look ahead to playing Brighton in the Premier League on Saturday afternoon.
