Flahavan Exit Brings Preston His Chance

Darryl Flahavan recently had it confirmed his future would be away from Crawley when it had looked as if this, until the end of the season at least, would be at the Broadfield Stadium.

Having initially been offered a new deal this was the withdrawn last week so he left at the end of his short-term deal, with Mark Yates telling the Official Website.

‘We are now looking for another goalkeeper to compete with Callum Preston for the position and we hope to have someone by Saturday, when we play Yeovil. I’d like to thank Darryl for his efforts for the club. As I expected, he has been extremely professional during his time here and we wish him all the best for the future.’

During his time with the club he had made 16 first-team appearances with him very much the first choice meaning Callum Preston was again playing second fiddle as he had since his arrival last summer.

Freddie Woodman, who arrived on loan from Newcastle before being recalled, and then Flahavan had left former Birmingham youngster Preston waiting patiently for his chance. With the 37-year-old moving on this has given him the chance with him to make more senior appearances having made his professional debut since his arrival at Crawley.

He told the Crawley News he’s waited for his chance, now he’s got this with him confident in his ability he wants to repay the faith shown in him by Yates.

‘I’m confident in my own ability and what I can do, now I’m just hoping I get the chance in the team to show more of what I can do. I’ll just go from there and see if I can break into the team and get a run in the team. It’s frustrating [not to get a run] but I’ve got to be realistic about where I am in my career – I’m only 20, so really I’m ahead of schedule in a way. In England it seems to be very hard for young goalkeepers to break into teams at any level, I don’t know why, so I’m thankful to the manager for giving me the chance and I hope I can repay him in the years to come.’