Carabao Cup: Crawley can hold heads high despite defeat to Millwall

Scott Malone opened the scoring for Millwall in the 14th minute of this first round tie, a first competitive game for six months for both sides. as he guided home a Ryan Woods cross for a goal on his second Lions debut.

Jake Cooper's header from a Connor Mahoney corner in the 31st minute forced Jordan Tunnicliffe to turn the ball into his own goal. Sam Ashford,reduced the deficit for the Reds a minute later, but Matt Smith's second-half header secured the Lions' victory.

Millwall could have had an early penalty and they certainly had the better of the opening exchanges.

They took the lead on 14 minutes as Malone steered home and in the 31st minute it was 2-0 and Crawley had it all to do. This time Mahoney's corner found Cooper at the back post, and after the defender's header across goal seemed to be harmless, the ball struck Tunnicliffe and rolled in.

The hosts were soon back in the game as new signing Ashford took advantage of a defensive error to beat Bartosz Bialkowski. The Reds might have levelled through Ashley Nadesan, but his effort went wide.

With 59 minutes gone Smith stooped to nod home a Jed Wallace cross to make it 3-1. Smith had a couple of chances for his second and in truth Millwall looked the more likely team to score but this result and performance was certainly no disgrace for John Yems' side, who now look forwward to kicking off their League Two campaign next weekend.

Crawley Town: McGill, McNerney (Galach 78'), Dallison, Powell (Sesay 58'), Nadesan, Frost, Ferguson, Tunnicliffe, Ashford (German 66'), Craig. Subs not used: Jones, Doherty, Hessenthaler, Khaleel.

Referee: David Rock