Crawley Town 3-1 Harrogate Town
Crawley Town ended a run of six straight League Two defeats with a convincing 3-1 home win over 10-men Harrogate Town, boosting their hopes of staying up.
Two first-half goals from Aramide Oteh put the Reds ahead and Jordon Mutch added a third midway through the second half. Anthony O’Connor’s reply in added time was no consolation for the visitors.
Crawley had the boost of an increased attendance of 3,317 after tickets were reduced to just £2 and club management released a statement calling for maximum support until the end of the season after the Reds’ worst losing streak since joining an EFL club Club in 2011 bat.
Former Salford City striker Oteh put Scott Lindsey’s side ahead in the eighth minute when he fired home from the edge of the box following a Dom Telford assist.
Harrogate rarely threatened until just after the half-hour when Alex Pattison sliced inside and parried a low shot from goalkeeper Corey Addai.
Crawley, who hadn’t scored in his last three games, doubled his lead just before half-time when Ashley Nadesan, after beating Matty Foulds, broke forward and crossed for Oteh to easily take his second close-range goal home bring to.
The Reds started the second half well and defender Ludwig Francillette headed wide of the near post from a Jack Powell corner.
Toby Sims shot just wide for Harrogate and substitute Matty Daly narrowly missed a Pattison cross before veteran midfielder Mutch made his home debut for Crawley with an unstoppable shot from the edge of the box to make it 3-0 in the 67th minute met.
Harrogate was reduced to 10 men in stoppage time when Sims was sacked for throwing the ball at Nadesan.
Crawley was denied just his fifth goal of the season with the final kick of the game when defender O’Connor struck from point-blank range.
Match report by PA Media.
lineups
Crawley
formation 4-4-2
- 34Addai
- 2GordonBooked at 83 minutes
- 3Conroy
- 15Francillette
- 44Ogungbo
- 7Tilly32 minutes bookedReplaced bycompanionsat 61′protocol
- 8thPowellBooked at 37 minutes
- 4mutchReplaced byspongeat 86′protocol
- 24Oth
- 19TelfordReplaced byKhaleelat 79′protocol
- 10Nadesan25 minutes booked
Substitute
- 11mason
- 13Schofeld
- 23Johnson
- 27Khaleel
- 29roll
- 38companions
- 41sponge
Harrogate
formation 4-4-2
- 1Oxley
- 14sims90 minutes booked
- 15O’Connor
- 34Ostman
- 33Fold
- 16PattisonBooked at 88 minutes
- 4FalkinghamReplaced byfolarinat 80′protocolBooked at 88 minutes
- 17suttonReplaced byThomasat 61′protocol
- 10Olaigbe
- 29Armstrong
- 18MuldoonReplaced byDalyat 61′protocol
Substitute
- 3Mattock
- 6burrell
- 7Thomas
- 9Grant
- 12folarin
- 28Daly
- 31Giles
- Referee:
- Simon Mather
- Participation:
- 3.317
live text
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Game ends, Crawley Town 3, Harrogate Town 1.
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Second half ends, Crawley Town 3, Harrogate Town 1.
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Goal! Score 3: Crawley Town 1-1 Harrogate Town. Anthony O’Connor (Harrogate Town) left footed shot from very close range to the bottom left corner. Assisted by Luke Armstrong following a set piece situation.
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attempt failed. Luke Armstrong (Harrogate Town) right footed shot from very close range misses to the left. Assisted by Sam Folarin with a header from a set piece situation.
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George Thomson (Harrogate Town) wins a free kick on the right wing.
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Foul by Aramide Oteh (Crawley Town).
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Offside, Crawley Town. Corey Addai tries a through ball, but Ashley Nadesan is caught offside.
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attempt failed. Alex Pattison (Harrogate Town) left footed shot from outside the box is a bit high. Assisted by Sam Folarin.
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Toby Sims (Harrogate Town) shown a red card for violent conduct.
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Away, Harrogate Town. Thomas Eastman tries a through ball, but Luke Armstrong is caught offside.
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Alex Pattison (Harrogate Town) is shown a yellow card.
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Sam Folarin (Harrogate Town) is shown the yellow card for a bad foul.
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Foul by Sam Folarin (Harrogate Town).
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Kellan Gordon (Crawley Town) wins a free kick in the defensive half.
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Substitution, Crawley Town. Jack Spong replaces Jordon Mutch.
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attempt failed. Alex Pattison (Harrogate Town) right footed shot from outside the box is too high. Assisted by Matty Daly.
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attempt blocked. Rafiq Khaleel (Crawley Town) left footed shot from the right side of the box is blocked. Assisted by Ashley Nadesan.
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attempt blocked. Aramide Oteh (Crawley Town) left footed shot from the left side of the box is blocked. Assisted by Mazeed Ogungbo.
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Corner, Crawley Town. Cashed in by Mark Oxley.
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attempt saved. Aramide Oteh (Crawley Town) right footed shot from the center of the box is saved in the bottom left corner. Assisted by Rafiq Khaleel.