Stevenage 3, Crawley 1

Crawley paid the price for not having a goalkeeper on the bench as they suffered their fifth straight defeat at Stevenage.

Keeper Ashley Bayes was sent off after just five minutes for deliberate handball, leaving first defender James Krause and then midfielder Dannie Bulman to fill in between the posts.

Defeat was always on the cards for the visitors after that but they made promotion-chasing Borough work hard for the points, despite finishing the game with nine men after Krause was sent off for a second booking.

The controversial incident came in Stevenage's first attack following a long ball over the top.

Bayes could have kicked clear but instead opted to grab the ball away from on-rushing striker Morison.

It was unclear whether the ball was inside or outside the box when Bayes handled but the linesman flagged immediately, prompting the referee to produce a red card.

Bayes was furious and had to be escorted off, before tearing off his gloves and shirt for Krause.

The makeshift keeper's first job was to pick the ball out of the net as Stevenage scored with their next attack.

A free kick from John Martin rebounded off the wall and Peter Vincenti blasted past the hapless Krause from 20 yards.

The stand-in stopper did not instill confidence that he could do the job between the posts on 17 minutes when he fumbled a weak shot from Martin wide.

Morison then hit a post with a header from the resulting corner with Krause flapping.

Krause's indecisiveness prompted Reds to change keepers for a second time three minutes later.

Former Stevenage player Bulman, who had taken over the captain's armband in the absence of dropped Tyrone Thompson, took over the gloves and looked more assured than Krause.

Reds suffered another blow moments later when defender Dominic Shimmin was forced off with a head injury.

He was replaced by Josh Dutton-Black, which was Crawley's second early substitution after Brad Thomas had come on for Magno Vieira after Bayes' dismissal.

Crawley recovered well from their nightmare start and had two chances to go level.

Jon-Paul Pittman headed over and then Dutton-Black forced keeper Alan Julian into a low save with an angled shot. But there was always a sense that Stevenage could exploit the visitors' goalkeeping weakness at any time and they almost did just past the half hour.

Gavin Grant outpaced Krause down the inside right channel and was denied by a superb low parry by Bulman.

However, the Crawley skipper could do nothing to stop Grant doubling the lead on 38 minutes.

Striker cut inside Thomas 20 yards out and found the top corner, via Bulman's fingertips, with a rising drive.

Crawley gave themselves hope of a comeback four minutes before the break when they pulled a goal back. Pittman received the ball on the halfway line, ran past two defenders and finished into the bottom corner.

Pittman almost hit another two minutes later with a low fizzing shot which Julian did well to save.

Tempers boiled over early in the second half after Glenn Wilson went down under a challenge from Mitchell Cole.

The Stevenage players accused Wilson of feigning injury, while the Reds players and Evans on the sideline appealed for the midfielder to be sent off, before Cole was eventually shown a yellow card.

Bulman kept his side in the game on the hour with a diving save to keep out a powerful effort by Sammy Moore.

He did well again from the corner, pushing the ball over the bar under pressure from Morison.

Crawley's miserable afternoon got even worse on 74 minutes when Krause was dismissed. He jumped into a tackle on Grant and, having already been booked, the referee had no option but to produce a red.

Morison finished Reds off on 82 minutes with a rasping volley from the edge of the box.

Stevenage: Julian, Wilson, Westwood, Smith, Murray, Moore, Vincenti, Martin, Grant, Cole, Morison. Subs: Masters, Rankin, McMahon, John, Laird.

Crawley: Bayes, Wilson, Shimmin, Stevens, Krause, Blackburn, Bulman, James, Vieira, Cook, Pittman. Subs: Thomas, Thompson, Pinault, Dutton-Black, Carayol.

Referee: S Beck (Essex)