Crawley Town 0, Walsall 0: Reds secure League Two survival with goalless Saddlers draw

Reds supporters brought the noise in the home end behind the goal, and thunderous, non-stop chants of ‘Red and White Army’ greeted the players in the opening stages of both halves.

Crawley held firm – despite a nervy final 15 minutes with the result in the balance – to claim a deserved point, before the Eden Utilities Stand descended into a sea of red flares and smoke bombs.

The Reds thought they had broken the deadlock just before the hour mark in a moment of controversy. Ashley Nadesan chested a cross goal-bound from six yards out, but Saddlers’ substitute goalkeeper Jackson Smith clawed the ball off the line, in the eye of the assistant referee.

The match got off to a lively start . Inside two minutes, Crawley’s Tom Fellows swivelled in the box and shot straight at Walsall’s goalkeeper Owen Evans, who saved comfortably.

Soon after, Reds’ goalkeeper Corey Addai saved twice in quick succession. He first parried an effort in the box from Matt Stevens, before claiming Conor Wilkinson’s rebound header.

Walsall tested the home side on a couple of occasions. The Reds’ Travis Johnson made an important block from a cross on the right flank after the visitors cut through the Reds’ defence. Then, Jack Powell saw his curling free-kick turned around Evans’ bottom left-hand post.

Dion Conroy made an excellent well-timed block tackle to halt Walsall’s Matt Stevens after he was put through down the right and was advancing in on Addai’s goal. Crawley’s keeper then made a great diving save to his left to keep out Isaac Hutchinson’s curling shot from range.

Crawley started the brighter of the two teams as the second period got underway. The Saddlers’ Stevens was first to an attempt on goal, but his firm right-foot shot was well-held by Addai.

Shortly after the hour mark, this time it was Crawley keeper Addai who was forced to scramble the ball off his goal-line directly from a whipped Walsall corner.

The game was finely poised and there were a tense final 15 minutes with Crawley knowing that Hartlepool had taken a 3-1 lead against nine-man Barrow.

But the Reds held on for the single point they needed to avoid dropping into non-league, to spark jubilant scenes.