Crawley suffered back-to-back defeats in League One for only the third time under Richie Barker as they lost 2-0 at Stevenage.

Reds dominated for the majority of the game and created the better chances but failed to score for the second match running.

Stevenage took the lead in the ninth minute when Peter Hartley powered home a header from a corner.

Crawley went close to equalising with Dannie Bulman putting their best chance wide and Chris Day saving well from Kyle Bennett and Josh Simpson.

The home side wrapped up the points in the last minute through former Crawley loan midfielder Michael Doughty as Reds threw caution to the wind.

The result saw Crawley drop a place to 12th in League One.

Crawley made two changes to the side which surrendered their seven-match unbeaten run by going down 3-0 at home to Port Vale on Tuesday night.

Kyle Bennett came in for his debut after signing on loan from Doncaster Rovers yesterday while Gary Alexander made his first start for seven weeks.

Jamie Proctor and Emile Sinclair were the men to drop out with boss Richie Barker changing formation from 4-1-3-2 to 4-1-4-1.

Bennett began on the right wing and almost made a dream start when his 25-yard effort in the opening minute forced Chris Day into a good stop.

Referee Richard Clark was not helping the flow of the game as he blew his whistle for even the most minor of infringements.

The stop-start nature of the game was more to the advantage of a physical Stevenage side and it was no surprise that their opening goal came from a set-piece.

Greg Tansey whipped over a corner in the ninth minute which Peter Hartley met with a powerful header from six yards to give Paul Jones no chance.

Jones was almost left red-faced five minutes later when his miskicked clearance hit Francois Zoko to send the ball ballooning wide.

Crawley never really threatened an equaliser until they created three good chances just before the interval.

Nicky Adams fired an effort just wide from the edge of the area while Day saved at full stretch from Josh Simpson after some clever footwork from the Crawley skipper to set up the chance.

The best opportunity fell to Dannie Bulman though after Adams and Bennett had combined to set him up only for the veteran midfielder to poke his effort wide with only Day to beat.

Reds remained on top in the second half with Stevenage happy to protect their lead. Chances were few and far between though with the best coming when Joe Walsh played in Adams only for his cutback to be cleared by a defender as Alexander waited to pounce.

Crawley forced a series of corners as they turned up the pressure with the ball hitting Simon Heslop on the line from one of them and substitute James Hurst stinging the palms of Day from another.

Stevenage began to pose a threat on the break as Crawley committed men forward and Doughty killed the game off in the 90th minute with a good finish inside the far post.