In a poor game for spectators, Yeovil substitutes Ryan Bird and Tahvon Campbell came off the bench to score two second half goals. Lee Barnard pulled one back for Crawley with his first goal for the club. However Reds did not show much attacking spark and did not look likely to score a second. In fact they might have conceded a third through a late penalty decision against Sonny Bradley which was overturned. Callum Preston made a rare start in goal following the departure last week of regular No.1 Darryl Flahavan. The 20-year-old was one one of four changes to the team with recent signing Chris Atkinson coming in to make his first start, Roarie Deacon partnering Matt Harrold up front and Josh Yorweth in defence. Lee Barnard, Gavin Tomlin and Ross Jenkins were dropped to the bench, while Luke Rooney was not included in the squad due to illness. Yeovil included former Crawley player from last season Ryan Dickson at left back. The first half hour was a dour affair with Crawley rarely keeping any meaningful possession and Yeovil also lacking any cutting edge. Reds played a new defensive 5-2-3 formation designed to prevent their full-backs from causing them damage on the attack. However it left the team looking over-run in midfield with their attacking players cut-off from the rest of the team. A breakaway for Crawley involving Matt Harrold and Lewis Young saw Harrold mistime his header. Josh Yorwerth was brought down in the area leading to a penalty appeal which was not given by referee Chris Kavanagh. The second half eventually came to life when Shaun Jeffers saw a shot saved by Preston. Play raced to the other end when Walton crossed to Harrold whose header was turned away by keeper Artur Krysiak for a corner. Yeovil took the lead on the hour when a ball was diastrously flicked on by Jon Ashton and Bird controlled and finished from close-range. Crawley created a rare chance down the left flank when Young sped a away but sliced a shot over the bar with just the keeper to beat. Yeovil then went 2-0 up on 76 minutes when Campbell was given time to cut inside and curl a shot past Preston from the edge of the area. Reds then scored a surprise goal seven minutes later well headed by Barnard, getting inside the defence. But they were unable to follow-up with any pressure on the home penalty area. Finally Yeovil were awarded a penalty when Sonny Bradley brought down Bird but the referee changed his mind upon consulting with the linesman and instead a free-kick just outside the area was given as Crawley slipped to their second successive defeat. REDS: Preston, Walton, Bradley, Edwards, Young (Jenkins 76), Ashton, Harrold (Barnard 76), Deacon (Tomlin 67), Yorwerth, Smith, Altkinson Unused subs: Fenelon, Bawling YEOVIL: Krysiak, Tozer, N.Smith, Dolan, Sokolik, Jeffers (Bird 56), Dickson, Compton (Campbell 56) , Roberts, Walsh (Dawson 85), Zoko Unused subs: Weale, Laird, Gillett, Allen REFEREE: Chris Kavanagh ATTENDANCE: 3,423 (139 away) Don’t miss out on all the latest breaking news where you live. Here are four ways you can be sure you’ll be amongst the first to know what’s going on. 1 Make this website your homepage 2 Like our Facebook page at facebook.com/pages/Sport-Sussex 3 Follow us on Twitter @SportSussex 4 Register with us by clicking on ‘sign in’ (top right corner). You can then receive our daily newsletter AND add your point of view to stories that you read here. And do share with your family and friends - so they don’t miss out!
