Crawley see off plucky Grays

Crawley are up to fifth in the Blue Square premier after grinding out a third win in four starts at the Broadfield Stadium last night.

Reds recovered from the concession of a fifth-minute goal by Crawley-born striker Jamie Taylor to dominate the first half.

Lewis Killeen and Simon Weatherstone were both on target and although Grays pushed plenty of bodies forward in the second half Reds stood firm while keeper Simon Rayner was a commanding last line of defence.

Assistant manager Paul Raynor felt his side could have wrapped up their victory by half-time.

He said: “The first goal gave us a kick up the backside but before half-time we should have been out of sight.

“We played with lots of players in attacking areas and if we had taken our chances it could have been game over.

“Grays never gave in. We had to defend at the end when they threw a lot of bodies forward but I felt we were pretty comfortable and we deserved to win.

“We have a lot of skillful, attack-minded players but you can see our togetherness on nights when you have to dig in and work hard against a team who had a real go.”

Boss Steve Evans had warned that Grays were a better side than their recent form suggested and it took the visitors just five minutes to prove him right.

From the third of three corners in the space of two minutes, Barry Cogan’s set-piece was flicked on by Jamie Stuart and former Horsham striker Taylor had a tap-in from a yard.

Grays’ powerful targetman Danny Kedwell was a handful in the air early on and Reds’ skipper Dannie Bulman needed lengthy treatment after a clash of heads on the halfway line before he returned to the fray with his head swathed in bandages.

Stretched Gradually Crawley began to impose themselves in midfield and the wide areas with Danny Forrest twice squandering good positions on the right as the hosts got on top.

Kedwell stretched to fire wide on 17 minutes but it was a rare Grays breakaway and four minutes later Crawley deservedly levelled.

Weatherstone’s pass from the left picked out Forrest who had cut inside on the right. He laid the ball off to the edge of the penalty area where Killeen’s expertly-struck half-volley flew past former Albion keeper Ross Flitney and into the bottom corner.

Flitney came to Grays’ rescue when he got down low to his right to keep out Cook’s shot but Crawley deservedly went in front six minutes before the break.

Cook waited for Weatherstone to make a run into the danger area before squaring the ball into his path and Weatherstone placed his shot inside the right-hand post.

Grays wasted a chance to get back on level terms three minutes after the break when they again threatened from a set-piece.

Cogan’s free-kick was headed into the six-yard box by Stuart to fellow centre-half Jon Ashton but he sliced a right-foot shot horribly wide.

It was a taste of what was to follow in the second half as Grays committed more men forward in their increasingly desperate search for an equaliser.

Adam Quinn timed his tackle to perfection inside the six-yard box just as Taylor was about to pull the trigger then Kedwell got up to meet a corner but his goalbound header was nodded off the line by Thomas Pinault.

Crawley’s defence was often at full stretch but they gave Rayner excellent protection and still threatened on the counter-attack.

Killeen turned provider after 70 minutes to tee up Weatherstone for a strike from the edge of the box which Flitney parried and the midfielder had an even better opportunity eight minutes from time when Bulman’s intelligent pass found him in space but Flitney was out quickly to smother his shot.

Grays forced six corners in the second half to Crawley’s one but they did not have their hosts’ cutting edge up front.

There is no doubt that Evans’ side have that in abundance this season with ten goals in their last three games.

But he will have been just as delighted at the resilience they showed to protect this hard-earned but deserved victory.

Crawley: Rayner 7, Wilson 7, Rents 7, Quinn 7, Wright 7, Killeen (sub: Fletcher 78) 7, Weatherstone 8, Bulman 7, Pinault 7, Forrest (sub: Thomas 89) 7, Cook 7 (Douglas 90). Subs not used: Stevens, Giles.

Grays: Flitney, Gross (sub: Gier 46), Stuart, Ashton, Elliott, Taylor, Kedwell, Welsh (Molesley 71), Bailey (Thurgood 41), Wilnis, Cogan. Subs: Gier, Arnold, Molesley, Campana, Thurgood.

Referee: Ian Cooper (Rochester).

Attendance: 1,189.