Crawley Town 1-0 Bristol Rovers RECAP: Tom Nichols seals Carabao Cup first-round tie victory against former club after impressive team performance

Crawley Town face a tough test against Joey Barton’s Bristol Rovers in the Carabao Cup tonight (Tuesday, August 9).
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Having failed to pick up a point after two games in League Two, Reds manager Kevin Betsy will be looking for his first victory since taking over the club in the summer.

It won’t be an easy task, though, against League One Bristol Rovers, who come into the game fresh from thrashing Burton Albion 4-0.

Crawley will be looking for a quick change in fortunes after Saturday’s 1-0 home defeat against Leyton Orient – a week after losing by the same scoreline at Carlisle United.

Stay tuned for the team news and live match updates.

Crawley Town 1-0 Bristol Rovers RECAP: Tom Nichols seals Carabao Cup first-round tie victory against former club after impressive team performance

Full-time: Crawley 1-0 Bristol Rovers

Big win!

Crawley through to the next round of the cup.

And they thorougly deserved it, too.

Teddy Jenks comes on to replace James Hessenthaler for the final moments of this cup tie.

(86) Crawley have another chance to seal the game.

This one started with Jack Powell, who turned his man with a delightful skill.

The ball is played out wide to Nichols, whose drilled cross landed at the feet of James Balagazi. The sub coudn’t keep his effort on target, though.

Crawley’s fans are in fine voice.

They are roaring their team onto their first win of the season - and what a win it would be.

(79) So nearly 2-0!

Half-time sub Oteh had options in the middle but he was confident and curled a low effort off the post.

It’s taken 250 minutes of football this season but Crawley finally have a goal and who else but captain Tom Nichols?

GOAL! Crawley 1-0 Bristol Rovers - Tom Nichols (73)

Bedlam in the home end!

Nichols scores against his former club to make it 1-0 to Crawley with a simple finish into an empty net after his first effort was saved.

It was a great through-ball by Jack Powell, initially.

(68) Crawley haven’t had too many chances this half but they’ve just wasted a big one.

Nadesan made a great run out wide, and was found by Nichols, but the resulting pass into the box towards Oteh in the box was poor and the chance goes begging.