Crawley boss Richie Barker has told his young players they must grow up fast following their 2-1 defeat at Scunthorpe United.

Reds took the lead early in the second half through Matt Sparrow but the home side came back through goals from Jimmy Ryan and Niall Canavan in the space of 12 minutes to take the points.

Barker said: "We probably deserved more but the reason we haven't come away with anything is that you have got to see games through. If we had got a second goal it probably would have killed them off but then we gave them a leg up back into the match.

"That is what you get with young players though. Sometimes they find it hard to win games but it is something they have got to learn quickly."

The result kept Reds in 15th place in League One but they are now nine points off the play-offs.

Barker said: "It was never going to be easy but we still have a lot of games to play. We've got games in hand but obviously we'd prefer points on the board."