Men's 2s remain unbeaten after 7-3 away win

Crawley 2’s braved the cold weather for a trip to Brighton, hoping to bring back 3 points.

They started badly, a dangerous clearance by a Brighton defender was inexplicably missed by the umpire, allowing a counter attack that JayTee Carter could only turn into his own net. Bad turned to worse when Brighton countered again leaving returning goalie Lewis Cordingley with no chance for 2-0.

Crawley didn’t let their heads drop and Karl Bass pounced on a poor clearance to dispatch from the top of the D. The half was end to end, Matt Park and Andy Burton solid at the back, with Carter, Nick Bennett and the hard-working, Rob Payne constantly offering good outlets in the wide areas. James Fuller worked tirelessly out of position in midfield, helping to craft chances with Liam Mulcahy and very briefly Will Doherty; who unfortunately had to retreat to the subs bench to reconsider his previous night of drinking!

Crawley deserved to be level and just before half time they managed this. Man-of-the-match Elliott Hooley-Jones intercepting in his own D and finding Scott Gibbons with a big hit upfield. Gibbons drew in the defender before releasing Seb Watson who cooly slotted home.

At half time Crawley knew that this game was there for the taking and renewed their efforts to find a deserved lead. That came with Mulcahy waltzing through the defence and calmly picking his spot in the bottom corner. Crawley weren’t done there, Gibbons thought he’d scored but instead saw his deft touch come back out off of the upright. Soon after he did have a goal though; Bass drawing in all the defenders before unselfishly teeing up Gibbons to sweep beneath the keeper for 4-2.

Next came the goal of the game, Hooley-Jones through one-on-one, sat the keeper down with skill before walking the ball in for a deserved 5th. Brighton did grab one back, Cordingley unable to get to a close range deflection. The scoring wasn’t done there though; skipper Gibbons was sent clear by a thunderous ball by Fuller, he held off the defender before scoring with a cheeky reverse flick into the bottom corner. And finally Gibbons had his hattrick. More non-existent defending from Brighton allowed him to run clear and remain composed enough to slide the ball past the keeper to round off a fantastic 7-3 win.

Crawley face a winless Eastbourne side at Hazelwick next week, trying to continue their unbeaten start to the season.

Crawley team: Cordingley, Park, Carter, Bennett, Burton, Bass, Fuller, Doherty, Mulcahy, Hooley-Jones, Watson, Payne, Gibbons (c)