Crawley suffered a harsh defeat to League One leaders Tranmere Rovers for the second time this season.

Richie Barker's side dominated proceedings at Prenton Park but returned from the Wirral empty-handed thanks to first half goals from David Amoo and a Paul Jones own goal.

Rovers have now done the double over Crawley following their flattering 5-2 victory at Broadfield Stadium earlier in the season.

The result sees Reds drop to tenth in the table and keeps Tranmere top.

Reds had the better of an open first half but somehow found themselves 2-0 down at the interval.

Billy Clarke and Gary Alexander had both tested goalkeeper Owain fon Williams when Tranmere took the lead after 30 minutes.

It came by virtue of poor defending and bad luck. A deep cross from Max Power was headed down by Liam Palmer. Mark Connolly stuck out a leg and although Paul Jones managed to kick the ball away it bounced up nicely for Amoo to fire into the back of the net.

Reds went close to an equaliser six minutes later when fon Williams parried a shot from Mike Jones and the follow-up from Clarke hit the outside of a post.

Instead of being level Crawley found themselves 2-0. Zoumana Bakayogo’s cross drifted over Paul Jones and it bounced back off the post, hit the goalkeeper and went in.

Tranmere almost killed the game off two minutes after the restart when a fierce volley from Power came back off the underside of the bar.

Crawley again dominated the half but were unable to find the goal which would have got them back into the game.

Nicky Adams curled a free-kick into the side netting while Josh Simpson and Clarke both forced fon Williams into good saves.