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The goal promises to live long in memory. Control, strength, balance, an explosion of rhythm and a precise finish to generate the best result in Crawley Town’s 125-year history.
It was the opening game of an impressive 3-0 victory, a third-round classic to challenge a 62-place league gulf and humble Leeds United.
However, Nick Tsaroulla’s emotional post-match interviews hinted that it was more than a 21-year-old excited to score his first goal and savor the magic of the FA Cup.
This was a moment of personal triumph, intense relief and reward for his indefatigable spirit, with just a little bit of ‘yours Tottenham’ sprinkled on top. It could also prove a lesson to all young players when fate conspires against them.
Crawley Town’s Nick Tsaroulla scored a wonderful first goal in his team’s 3-0 win over Leeds
Tsaroulla was 18 years old in July 2017 and had just left his home in Essex for the short trip to training at the Spurs when his Audi A1 collided with an oncoming vehicle, a much larger Audi Q5.
“It wasn’t pretty,” he said, recalling the moment after Sunday’s win. “They were in a Q5 so they were three times the size and my car was a mess. The doctor said that if I hadn’t put my seat belt on I would have definitely died. I would have been dead.
It wasn’t even that fast. I was going around a mini roundabout so it couldn’t have been that fast. I was lucky enough to be saved by the seat belt, but it caused a stomach wound. I just needed time. But, unfortunately, with football clubs like Spurs, time is against you. ‘
For 10 months, medical experts were puzzled by the precise nature of the injury and the source of Tsaroulla’s pain.
Left-back Tsaroulla gave an emotional post-match interview about his return from injury
“They tried everything and nothing worked,” he said. “It was abdominal pain, neuropathic pain, and nobody could understand it. For a year I was completely out of football ”.
When he tried to venture out into the field again, there was another setback: cellulitis, a serious skin infection.
“I developed really bad blisters on my feet,” Tsaroulla said. “ A lot of it had to do with the nervous system because I developed burning pain in my feet. I couldn’t wear football boots or run.
‘The blister was infected and there was a big red line on my leg, so I had to rush to the hospital. I went straight to antibiotics. If I had left it, it would have turned black and that’s bad.
So I had to let the blisters heal. So the Spurs didn’t want to continue my contract. They didn’t want to give me another chance. That was a disappointing day. ‘
The 21-year-old was fired by Tottenham after sustaining several serious injuries in a car accident
It seemed unfair to be left adrift in the summer of 2018 after 12 such traumatic months, but the left-back used the form of his rejection as a source of motivation.
“I don’t want to speak ill of the Spurs,” Tsaroulla said. ‘They did everything they could, they sent me all the doctors but unfortunately they didn’t want to hold me.
However, that gives me a lot of impetus to prove them wrong. I’m not going to name coaches, but they are always on my mind.
‘I just want to prove people wrong. They let me go. I never thought it was because of skill. It was a strange situation and they didn’t want to move on.
‘I already have enough fire inside me, but they’ve given me so much more, enough for the rest of my career. Sometimes they say it’s not good to hold onto things, but I like to have it there, so on the days when you think they can’t bother you, you remember it and it’s, ‘Oh no, they can bother me.
Crawley’s manager John Yems (center) engineered the win against Marcelo Bielsa (right)
After his release from the Spurs, Tsaroulla headed to the Isokinetic Rehabilitation Center, a private sports medicine clinic.
“I wanted to do it correctly,” he said. ‘I wanted to fix my stomach, put my feet right. I wanted to be strong when I got back to testing.
In about six months they fixed me. They are incredible. They made me strong, without a problem, running as fast as ever, as fit as ever.
Tsaroulla signed a one-year contract with Brentford in May 2019, joining his B-team and enjoying working with Neil MacFarlane and Sam Saunders, until the season came to a halt.
“I fell in love with football again,” he said. ‘They taught me a lot. I learned the men’s side and those two were absolutely brilliant. There was simply no path to the first team, which is a shame. But that’s football. ”
For months, Tsaroulla trained alone in parks and gyms and read Relentless, by sportsmind guru Tim Grover.
After impressing John Yems during the Crawley trial, in October he signed a contract for the remainder of this season, with a one-year option, and then made his debut a month later.
“I loved the director and the environment instantly,” Tsaroulla said. ‘From day one, I knew this was where I wanted to be. Fortunately, he (Yems) took me in and gave me the opportunity to score against Leeds so I’m very blessed to be here. ”
No wonder the excitement was too much to contain.
