RICHARD Thompson rescued below-par Crawley with his first goal for the club against struggling Dorchester in the Premier Division last night.

Thompson made it 1-1 with Crawley's first shot on target, a superbly-struck 20-yard drive into the bottom corner after 65 minutes, but the relegation-threatened visitors must still be wondering how they didn't collect only their second away win of the season.

Dorchester dominated a scrappy contest for the first hour, despite a superb defensive display by Crawley captain John Mackie.

Danny O'Hagen headed against the post after six minutes and soon after Martin Shepherd failed to hit the target from eight yards.

After more near misses the visitors finally broke the deadlock in first half injury time when Crawley failed to clear a corner and Shepherd drove a powerful low shot past Adrian Blake from 20 yards.

Shepherd wasted a glorious chance to win the game with 14 minutes left when he hoisted the ball over the target from 10 yards after Gary Alexander's had found him unmarked.

Of more concern to Crawley boss Billy Smith than the loss of two points is their growing injury list. Simon Ullathorne and Justin Gregory were already ruled out and Andy Taylor and Sean McEntegart limped off in the second half with Wick striker Clinton Moore among the second half substitutes.

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