Crawley boss Richie Barker believes his side can take encouragement from their 2-0 defeat at leaders Tranmere Rovers.

Reds dominated large parts of the match but came away from Prenton Park empty handed thanks to a David Amoo strike and a Paul Jones own goal in the first half.

The outcome was similar to Crawley's defeat to Rovers back in September when they were unlucky to go down 5-2 after giving Ronnie Moore's side a real run for their money.

Barker said: "I thought we probably did enough to get something out of the game. I thought we just about did enough to nick a point.

"The second goal came at the right time for them. Everyone who sees it knows it was a cross but when your luck is not in your luck is not in.

"They are top of the league and if you take the goals out of the game there is nothing in it. We have more than matched a team at the top of the table so we need to take positives from it."

The result saw REds drop to tenth place in League One but they are still only two points off the play-offs.

It was the third time in five league games they have failed to score and Barker did concede they need to improve their cutting edge.

He added: "Paul Jones didn't make a save in the whole game. Their goalkeeper made more saves than Paul did but we should have worked the keeper better.

"We have not been overrun by a team who are top of the league. We had more possession and more shots but it doesn't win you football matches."