Crawley Town 2-0 Swindon Town: Winning start for Matthew Etherington as Nick Tsaroulla and Jack Powell strike late

After a difficult start to the season, the Reds have returned to winning ways for the first time since the beginning of November.

Crawley now have 21 points from their opening 20 games in League Two but remain in 19th – one point behind Newport County.

Nick Tsaroulla scored the first goal of Etherington’s tenure with another long-range strike on the 79th minute. The left-back’s effort deflected off the Swindon defence to catch Brynn off guard to score his second goal of the season.

Jack Powell doubled Crawley’s lead with a long-range screamer just inside of Swindon’s half in the 84th minute. The Robins’ goalkeeper, Sol Brynn was forced far from his goal line to recover a wayward back pass but cleared into the path of Powell. With a slight glance towards goal, the midfielder beautifully lobbed the ball into an empty net.

Saidou Khan was stretchered off for Swindon towards the end of the second half. The midfielder was eventually substituted for Marcel Lavinier after stopping the match for almost 15 minutes.

Etherington, who was appointed last Sunday as Kevin Betsy’s permanent successor, was managing his first game for the Reds as they tried to revive their difficult start to the season.

The club announced their new assistant manager, Simon Davies, was absent from the match due to personal reasons.

Liverpool loanee James Balagizi returned to the starting eleven in his first game back since a nine-week injury. Alongside Ashley Nadesan and Dom Telford, the 19-year-old linked up play superbly until his substitution for Tom Fellows in the 52nd minute.

The Broadfield Stadium erupted in the 21st minute when Joel Lynch seemed to have opened the scoring. Ludwig Fracillette initially won the header from a corner, leading to a goal-mouth scramble which Lynch tucked away. Unfortunately, the linesman was there to rule out the goal for off-side

Francillette also returned to the starting eleven alongside Lynch at centre-back. The pair’s aerial ability shone against Swindon, denying the opposition any use of their usual tactic of crossing from the right-hand channel. After a fantastic performance, Etherington may have found his permanent defensive partnership for the season.

Crawley came close once again in the first half when Balagizi cleverly worked his way into the box and cut back to James Tilley. After a moment of hesitation, the ball was lofted into the path of Powell who made a clean connection on the volley but couldn’t keep the shot down.

Teddy Jenks was forced to leave the field only eight minutes after kick-off due to injury. The current midfielder on loan from Brighton and Hove Albion was replaced by James Tilley but has become a prominent figure in the Reds starting eleven.

Tom Nichols was left out of the Crawley squad for the first time in the league this season. The club are yet to explain the exclusion of the league’s second-highest assister in the division.