Crawley Town 1, Sutton United 2: Matt Gray and Rob Milsom back to haunt Reds in a Boxing Day derby defeat

With injuries to Ashley Nadesan, Joel Lynch and James Tilley, it was a defensive looking Reds line-up with only Dom Teflord and Tom Fellows the only recognised forward players in the side. Skipper George Francomb returned to the side while Sutton featured three former Reds in Enzio Boldewijn, Rob Milsom and Louis John.

The early exchanges were even with the game mainly being contested in midfield and some strong challenges were being put in by both sides, notably Ben Wells for Crawley and Alasatir Smith on Jake Hessenthaler on 14 minutes, which somehow saw the Sutton man get away without a card.

It took 19 minutes for Matty Etherington's men to launch their first real attack as Powell won the ball in midfield and he sent Telford down the left. He looked up to find a Reds player at the far post but Jack Rose claimed the ball well for Sutton.

On 32 minutes, Reds started to build pressure and Tsaroulla, Ogungbo and Hessenthaler helped win their first corner of the game but a decent Powell delivery couldn’t find a Reds head.

A couple of minutes later saw the first shot came and it was from the right foot of Smith, but luckily Ellery Balcombe was not tested before Josh Neufville wasted the best chance of the half, dragging his shot wide.

With six minutes of the half left, Powell, capable of a quality delivery, had a free kick in a dangerous position but he overhit his cross and it went wide for a goal kick.

Harry Beautyman forced the first save from either keeper as Ellery Balcombe had to dive to stop the Sutton man’s header.

And as the game opened up a little, Telford suddenly found himself on the right side of the last defender from a long Balcombe clearance but the ball would not come down quick enough for him and his header went tamely to Rose – who should have come out to claim it earlier.

It only took two minutes into the second half for Sutton to create their best chance so far when Will Randall created himself some room in the Reds box but his right foot shot went wide. If it was on target it would have been 1-0 to the visitors.

But after that Reds started to produce the more attacking football with Powell, Ogungbo and Tsaroulla all showing good intent – but it was just the final ball that was lacking.

With Reds on top, Etherington was preparing to bring on James Balagizi and Remi Oteh when the visitors hit the Reds with a sucker punch. Balcombe pulled off a superb save from an overhead kick but Joe Kizzi was the quickest to react as he hammered the ball into the roof of the net. It was against the run of play.

Reds continued to attack after this and after Tsaroulla was fouled on the left of the penalty box, a low delivery from Jack Powell evaded a Reds touch as it fell into Roses’ hands.

But it continued to unravel for Crawley when on 70 minutes, indecision from Balcombe lead to a penalty for the visitors. With the ball high in the air, Tony Craig was waiting for Balcombe to claim the ball, but he never came and Bugeil got the ball only to be bought down by a frustrated Craig.

Referee Neil Hair had no hesitation in pointing to the spot and Milsom fired home the penalty to double the visitors’ lead.

It was a killer blow for the shell-shocked Reds who lost their attacking impetus after this. Oeth did score four minutes into added time but it proved only as a consolation as Sutton claimed all three points. The Reds dropped to 20th in the League Two table.

A tough trip to high-fliers Stevenage await Etherington’s men on Friday – a trip no team would be relishing at this current time.