Danilo Orsi: Crawley striker goes from goal-shy to Wembley goal hero (2024)

Published

20 May 2024

A modest record of six goals in 56 games across the best part of two seasons does not inspire huge confidence in a striker.

But dig a little deeper and the evidence was always there that Crawley Town's League Two play-off hero Danilo Orsi would score goals, say those who have worked with him.

The 28-year-old has just fired his side to the third tier of English football for the first time since 2015, following up a hat-trick in the play-off semi-final second leg thrashing of MK Dons with a goal in Sunday's 2-0 final win over Crewe Alexandra at Wembley.

It completes a wonderful turnaround for the striker with 25 goals in 50 games since joining the Reds from Grimsby Town last summer, where he scored four goals in 32 matches and only started 11 times.

"A lot of managers probably wouldn’t go near a striker who's only scored five goals in two seasons [he scored six all together at Grimsby and Boreham Wood], people would swerve that," Crawley manager Scott Lindsey said at Wembley after the final.

"But we looked deeper at his data and thought there was definitely something we could work on and polish.

"His data was through the roof in terms of xG [expected goals], in terms of touches in the box."

Crawley were many people's favourites to be relegated to the National League this term.

But the Sussex club qualified for the play-offs with a 2-0 win over Grimsby at Broadfield Stadium on the final day of the season.

They went into the final having lost home and away to Crewe in the league but comfortably beat the Cheshire side at Wembley.

Of the team that played in the final, only captain Dion Conroy and goalkeeper Corey Addai had been at the club beyond last summer.

And nine players - Laurence Maguire, Klaidi Lolos, Jeremy Kelly, Jay Williams, Adam Campbell, Ryan Sandford, Jack Roles, Joy Mukena and Ade Ademeyo - were playing non-league football last season.

Orsi and fellow final-scorer Liam Kelly were recruited from Grimsby and Rochdale, and Lindsey credited the players for implementing his tactics so quickly.

"The players were probably looking around going 'we've signed him [Ademeyo] from Cray Valley Paper Mills, we've signed him [Lolos] from Oxford City, we've signed him [Williams] from Brackley Town’ - the players probably didn’t think [we could win promotion] straight away but once we started getting on the pitch and coaching the life out of them [they did].

"I've given them a lot of information in detail and they’ve taken it on and executed it fantastically well all season," Lindsey said.

"We've not always got it right, but that's football and I'm really proud of them."

Home wins over Bradford City and MK Dons either side of a draw at Salford City in the first three games of the season were pivotal in building belief among the squad, Lindsey said.

He said the coaching staff had worked with Orsi on the way he presents his body to the ball and how he meets and receives it.

He linked up with Kelly for his side's opener in the final, bending the finish with the outside of his boot beyond Crewe keeper Max Stryjek.

For former Boreham Wood team-mate Jamal Fyfield, it is no surprise Orsi has averaged a goal every other game this season.

"Danilo is a natural-born goal scorer," the 35-year-old told BBC Sport. "He's not the strongest or the fastest but in his brain he's one of the quickest.

"He works so hard in terms of his hold-up play, he'll run himself into the ground but he can also finish, similar to [Aston Villa's] Ollie Watkins or Carlton Morris at Luton.

"I would never write Danilo off, I would not bet against him going to League One and scoring a load more goals."

When Orsi arrived at Boreham Wood, the club were competing for promotion and on an FA Cup run, but, having played for Harrogate previously in the competition, he was cup-tied.

Despite scoring on his debut against Wealdstone, he struggled to break into a winning team.

"Coaching him, he always had an eye for goal, ex-Boreham Wood manager Luke Garrard added.

"He wants to learn all the time, he was always first on the training pitch and asking questions.

"You can see he's very much reinvented himself. He's got that in his locker. It's [playing in League One] a great opportunity for the kid."

Another player who has enjoyed a stellar season since moving to the Broadfield Stadium is Kelly, who was relegated from League Two with Rochdale the previous season.

He scored his sixth goal of the season to seal the Wembley victory for Crawley and complete a superb performance for the Reds.

"Full credit goes to the gaffer, he’s got the best out of me this year," he told BBC Radio Sussex after the match.

"It's well known that we were favourites to go down and, from day one, he didn't believe that was going to happen."

Lindsey says Kelly epitomises everything he wants from his free-flowing side.

"Liam's such a good player and he understands what the team needs in moments of the game – he'll know when it needs to slow down or speed up, or when he needs to go more advanced.

"He’s almost like a coach out there for me and he's just an unbelievable footballer."

Crawley will go into the new season in a tougher league with many people again tipping them for relegation, but Lindsey will look to instil the same belief in his group that they can defy the odds again.

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