relegated to League One after finishing second-from-bottom. A knee injury restricted Crosby to just nine appearances during the 2008–09 campaign; Krystian Pearce and David Mirfin meanwhile established themselves at centre-back. Crosby's contribution proved crucial however as Pearce was dropped due to injuries and loss of form with four games of the regular season left to play. Scunthorpe qualified for the play-offs and Crosby converted his penalty in a shoot-out victory over Milton Keynes Dons in the semi-finals. He played the whole 90 minutes of the 3–2 victory over Millwall in the final – the last match of his 715 game career. Having been the club's assistant manager since November 2006, he focused on coaching for the 2009–10 season and did not make it onto the pitch as a player. Style of play Crosby was an "uncompromising, no-nonsense, hard-tackling" defender with a strong frame. He had good leadership and organisational skills, being described as a "natural leader" by former Scunthorpe teammate Paul Musselwhite. He was a penalty kick specialist and missed just one in his career, though he scored from the rebound. He was nicknamed 'Crozzer' whilst at Scunthorpe. Coaching career Following Brian Laws's move to Sheffield Wednesday on 6 November 2006, Nigel Adkins became Scunthorpe United's caretaker-manager with Crosby and Ian Baraclough as his assistants. Adkins was given the job on a permanent basis the following month and it was reported by the BBC that "the position of assistant manager will be reviewed in the close season", with Crosby, Baraclough and Tony Daws supporting Adkins until then. On 12 September 2010, Crosby joined Southampton as assistant to manager Nigel Adkins. The pair took the club from League One to the Premier League with successive promotions in 2010–11 and 2011–12. He was dismissed, along with Adkins, on 18 January 2013. The decision to sack Adkins proved highly unpopular with Southampton supporters, who waved white handkerchiefs at St Mary's Stadium to show their displeasure with chairman Nicola Cortese's decision to replace Adkins with former Espanyol manager Mauricio Pochettino. On 26 March 2013, he reunited with Adkins as he became his assistant at Reading. Crosby said the pair had tried to continue the work done by popular former manager Brian McDermott, however Reading were relegated from the Premier League at the end of the 2012–13 season. Crosby was strongly linked with the vacant management position at Scunthorpe United in November 2013. Reading aimed