Crawley Town 0, Charlton Athletic 1: Reds winless run continues

The Reds saw two changes from Saturday’s draw to Reading as Armando Quitirna and Panutche Camara entered the side.

It was a lively start at the Broadfield Stadium as both sides looked for a crucial three points but Crawley mustered the first chance through Will Swan, whose shot blazed past the post of the Charlton goal.

The visitors saw two good opportunities within the first 20 minutes when Alex Gilbert’s sweet strike sailed over JoJo Wollacott’s head as the tie remained goalless.

Charlton again came close 29 minutes in as Kayne Ramsay found himself in space and struck from distance but could not manage to find the target.

Charlton’s efforts came to fruition just seven minutes later when Thierry Small latched onto a loose ball in the Crawley box and struck the ball past Wollacott in goal, who got his body behind the ball but could not keep it out. The goal adds to Crawley’s clean sheet drought at home, which dates back to November.

The Reds were fortunate not to go into the break 2-0 down when a breakdown in communication lead to Alex Gilbert being able to get a shot away against JoJo Wollacott, who was equal to the opportunity.

Charlton almost doubled their lead early on in the second half as Armando Quitirna’s mistake was pounced on, but the shot was straight at Wollacott.

Much of the Broadfield stadium thought Quitirna had won the Reds a penalty just moments later as he fell in the box and the whistle blew, but the referee booked the Crawley striker for diving in the box.

Armando continued to be dangerous when he let fire at goal but his chance was blocked and no red shirt managed to connect to the rebound. Corners from the Reds continued to threat the Charlton goal when substitute Tyreece John-Jules tried a neat finish but to no avail. Moments later, Kamari Doyle’s shot blazed over the bar.

Dangerman Miles Leaburn managed to fire a shot away at Wollacott minutes later but again the Crawley keeper was level to the chance as the score remained 1-0. Just a minute later, Tyreece Campbell saw his shot go just wide of the post as the game remained open.

There was to be no late drama at Broadfield Stadium this time around as Charlton comfortably saw out the latter stages of the match without much Crawley resilience.

Crawley’s winless run goes to seven matches with the defeat, whilst Charlton strengthen their place in the play-offs with ten games remaining.