Crawley Town 2, Colchester United 3: Reds' play-off push suffers setback in shock loss to U's

This defeat sees Crawley remain in seventh with Doncaster Rovers just one point behind them in eighth.

Klaidi Lolos scored the Reds first goal of the game when he struck the rebound from Harry Forster’s shot which was originally saved by Sam Hornby.

Samson Tovide was sent off in the 88th minute to set up an enticing end to the match but the visitors were able to hold onto a valuable three points even after Forster managed to grab one goal back late on.

Scott Lindsey opted to make several changes to the side that lost 4-1 to Wrexham earlier in the week. Forster, Liam Kelly and Jack Roles all came into the side. Kellan Gordon did not make the squad whilst Jeremy Kelly and Nick Tsaroulla were pushed to the bench.

Crawley Town showed what their style of play would be from kick-off, with an attacking run instantly from Forster to strike fear into the Colchester defence.

It took just over five minutes for Reds to have their first real chance of the game when Roles’ brilliant run came to an abrupt end when his curled effort flew over the crossbar.

Liam Kelly’s smart free kick into the box almost caught the visitors off guard when the ball was met by the head of Laurence Maguire. However it was comfortably caught by goalkeeper Sam Hornby.

With Crawley having dominated the first 20 minutes of the game, Colchester showed the potential problems they could pose, with Tom Hopper putting the U’s in front. Noah Chilvers did the hard work to put the ball on a plate for Hopper to tap it in from close range.

Seconds prior to the goal, Roles rattled the crossbar with an audacious effort from outside the box.

With Crawley’s confidence knocked from the goal, Colchester grew into the game with more space appearing in the middle of the pitch.

The last five minutes of the first half gave the fans an exciting end with Crawley briefly equalising before falling behind once again. Lolos managed to put the ball in the back of the net for Reds after Forster’s original effort was saved by Hornby.

After a mix-up between Maguire and Corey Addai had occurred, Cameron Mcgeehan put the visitors ahead once again by passing the ball into an empty net.

With a 15 minute breather, Scott Lindsey would have hoped that his side would not make any reckless mistakes in the second half. Just two minutes after the second half began, Will Wright’s headed back pass was intercepted by Hopper to get his second of the afternoon as he calmly slotted it into the near corner past Addai.

Hopper who had only scored one goal in the league before this game briefly had a hattrick before his third was disallowed for a foul. This decision gave Crawley a little bit of hope going into the last ten minutes as they were on the brink of being 4-1 down before the referee came to their rescue.

After Tovide was sent off in the 88th minute, the referee added seven more to set up an entertaining end to the game. Lolos and Jeremy Kelly had their efforts saved in quick succession by Hornby.

Eventually Forster managed to narrow the deficit to one with a headed goal that crept into the bottom right hand corner but it wasn’t meant to be for Crawley Town as they lose 3-2 to Colchester United.