Steve Cotterill hails ‘talented’ Charlie McCann after Cheltenham brace

Cheltenham boss Steve Cotterill praised Charlie McCann’s fast start to the season after the midfielder scored twice in the 3-1 win at struggling Crawley.

McCann, signed from Barrow in the summer, was on target either side of a header from Andreas Weimann after Dylan Morgan had given Crawley an early lead.

McCann now boasts six goals in six league games and Cotterill is not surprised the 24-year-old is flourishing.

He said: “Charlie is very talented, he’s grown up in terms of his life and he was part of a really good team performance.

“The first was a great strike and the second was a side-footed punch when I thought it might be a toe-poke.

“I’m slightly disappointed not to keep a clean sheet, but we could have had five and out of possession we were good.

“Crawley will end up sticking you on the back foot; when they click they can be difficult to stop.”

This was only the second time Crawley had lost their opening three league games in 16 seasons as a Football League club, and boss Colin Kazim-Richards is searching for greater consistency.

He said: “When we have our better moments we look really good, but when we don’t have those moments we must do better – we need more consistency.

“Our goal was a good finish, then it’s 1-1 and no excuses for the second goal we conceded; we need to take better care of the ball.”

Crawley have already lost four league games this season, having lost a total of 46 in the previous two seasons combined, and Kazim-Richards is seeking more urgency in all respects.

He added: “We need more urgency, more bodies on the line. When something is working, we have a tendency to do something else.

“Very good players do the same things. Sometimes you get bored doing the things that are working. We have to want to score as much as we want to defend.

“They are still finding connections in the way they play. We didn’t capitalise when we’ve had moments in every single game. When we do we’ll be more consistent.”