Crawley held at home (From The Argus)

Crawley held at home

6:13pm Saturday 4th September 2010 in

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Crawley stretched their unbeaten run to six matches but home fans were left disappointed by a 1-1 draw with Fleetwood.

Steve Evans' expensively assembled side started brightly and were rewarded by an early goal from Craig McAllister.

But the visitors grew in confidence after drawing level midway through the first half and not even the introduction of Richard Brodie could inspire an off-colour Crawley to a fifth successive win.

Record signing Brodie, who arrived in the week for £275,000 from York, was left on the bench as manager Steve Evans opted to stick with a front pairing of Matt Tubbs and McAllister.

Nick Jordan returned in goal with Michel Kuipers suspended and Steve Masterton was back from a hamstring injury in midfield to replace the banned Kyle McFadzean. On the bench was former Albion, Manchester City and Yeovil goalkeeper Richard Martin who has been signed to provide cover while Kuipers serves a four-match ban.

It was an eventful start to the game with Fleetwood goalkeeper Danny Hurst saving from Scott Neilson after just 45 seconds but his afternoon was over moments later after suffering an arm injury which saw him stretchered off after lengthy treatment.

Scott Davies came on to replace Hurst but he was picking the ball out of the net after eight minutes when McAllister swivelled to fire home his fourth goal of the season from a Pablo Mills free-kick.

Simon Rusk threatened a second on 23 minutes with a rasping shot which Davies beat away unconvincingly.

However, two minutes later Fleetwood were level when Paul Linwood headed a deep corner back across goal for Magno Vieira to fire home against his former club.

Masterton had a goalbound free-kick charged down and McAllister had a shot blocked but Fleetwood had two further chances of their own before the break with Jordan saving from Gareth Seddon and then Jamie McGuire in stoppage time.

It was a slow start to the second half for Crawley and Fleetwood almost went ahead on 48 minutes when a half-volley from Vieira rattled the crossbar.

Evans responded with a double change, bringing on Brodie and Jai Reason.

Brodie joined McAllister and Tubbs in a three-pronged attack but could not find any fluency going forward and continued to look unsure at the back, which was emphasised when Junior Brown turned Danny Hall on the edge of his area before rifling narrowly wide of the far post.

Eventually Crawley began to string some passes together but they could not work openings for their strikers which by now included Ben Wright, on for McAllister.

Brodie worked hard but was starved of service and a stoppage time free-kick which was charged down summed up a frustrating afternoon for Brodie and his new team-mates.

Crawley: Jordan; Wilson, Hall, Quinn, Rusk; Neilson (sub Brodie 55), Mills, Masterton (sub Reason 55), Torres; McAllister (sub Wright 70), Tubbs. Subs not used: Smith, Martin.

Fleetwood: Hurst (sub Davies 4); Beeley, McNulty, Linwood, Brown; Barry, Craney (sub Pond 64), McGuire; Vieira, Seddon, Curtis (sub Thorpe 87). Subs not used: Grand, Beesley.

Referee: Andy Bennett (Devon).

Attendance: 1,637.

Reaction from the game will appear on this website later. A full match report, player ratings and pictures will appear in The Argus on Monday.