Another away game, another defeat but this time manager Francis Vines admits there is a problem.

Vines has so far been reluctant to concede that Crawley are poor travellers, despite a return of four points from six games on the road before Saturday's trip to Stevenage.

That all changed after watching another lacklustre display at Broadhall Way.

He locked his players in the changing room for 45 minutes after the final whistle and demanded to know what turns a team of potential play-off contenders at home into one that looks doomed for relegation away from Broadfield Stadium.

Vines then accused his players of failing to raise their game when it really matters.

He said: "I don't know what it is. You can't blame the facilities and the pitch was good, so some of the guys have to go home and think about their game.

"They have to take responsibility because once they cross the line then I can't play for them.

"We don't ask them to do anything different to how they play at home, if anything we ask them to do things in exactly the same way."

That last comment may be what is at the heart of the problem.

While Vines is right to blame the below par performance of the players, the way they play away has been a major contributor.

They try to reproduce the same sort football as they do at home, but are unable to because the opposition are a different proposition on their own patch.

That would not be an issue if they could switch to a different style, but so far this season they have not been able to and have paid the price.

It is a point noted by defender Joe Dolan, who was making his debut in the centre of defence after signing on a month's loan from Millwall.

He said: "In this league a lot of teams are quite evenly matched and most are going to be quite strong at home.

"From what I have heard, Crawley have more about them at home, so it is a case of trying to transfer that into away games and at the same time being able to adapt to coping with how the other team are playing.

"In the first half it was a bit of a battle and we came out second best. In the second we showed we have the ability to create but it didn't happen for us."

Vines brought in Dolan to replace Matt Rees, who was released last week because travelling from his Swansea home was too difficult.

He was the third different player in as many games to partner captain Ian Simpemba in the centre of defence.

The instability at the back cannnot help and, although the partnership looked promising, it took time to gel and by then the damage had been done.

Brian Quailey had already headed onto the bar from a cross by George Boyd, when Reds again struggled to clear a Boyd centre on 29 minutes.

The ball fell to Stevenage top-scorer Anthony Elding, who hooked a volley over his shoulder and was fortunate to see it loop over Phil Smith and into the net.

Smith prevented the visitors going further behind just after the break when he saved at point-blank with his legs from Quailey, who had two other good chances to score.

Both times he broke clear on goal and was stopped by last-ditch tackles by Ryan Palmer and Simpemba.

Crawley finally began to get into the game following the introduction of fit-again winger Mo Harkin in place the subdued Rob Traynor.

The former Northern Ireland under-21 international gave Reds another creative source, to complement Charlie Mapes.

It was from a Harkin cross that Crawley had their best chance but Danny Davidson headed tamely wide when he should have done better.

It summed up a poor performance by the big striker and was in stark contrast to Charlie MacDonald's impressive display.

The Reds top scorer, returning from an ankle injury, was out to impress against his old club and he showed he is back to his best after a spell of uncharacteristic quiet performances.

MacDonald, who has netted seven goals this season, said: "It is always disappointing not to score, but I felt I did okay and the ankle is good so it just makes me more determined to score in the next match."

That is good news for Reds because they travel to Tamworth next and having scored just six goals away from home, the sixth lowest in the Conference, they will need MacDonald back to goalscoring form if they are to finally stop their away-day blues.

Meanwhile, Charlie Mapes has called up for the England semi-professional side.

The Crawley midfielder has been selected in a provisional 30-man squad to travel to Italy to play a Serie C representative side on November 10.