Crawley Town 3, Stevenage 1: Reds back to winning ways as stunning strikes seal victory

Harry Forster scored the opener with a powerful driven effort into the bottom corner five minutes after the start of the second half.

Moments later, Brandon Hanlan equalised for the away team, after he was found in the box from a corner delivered by Daniel Kemp, and comfortably headed the ball into the back of the net.

Substitute Armando Quitirna put the Reds back into the lead late on after he tapped on the rebound from Rushian Hepburn-Murphy's effort.

Another substitute in Kamari Doyle fired the hosts into a two-goal lead with a phenomenal strike after a driving run.

This was the Reds first win at Broadfield Stadium since the 23rd November, and it was a much needed three points which moved them up to 22nd and three points away from safety.

The hosts got the first opportunity of the game after Rushian Hepburn-Murphy won a free kick 25 yards away from goal, but he could not keep his effort down as it just went over the bar.

Despite large shouts for an offside flag, the linesman kept his flag down as Daniel Kemp ran to the byline, but his cross could not be turned in by a Stevenage attacker, and a few seconds later the flag went up for a different offside incident, met with ironic Reds cheers.

Moments later, Jamie Reid got the first shot on target of the game, with his close-range effort from a tight angle kept out by Jojo Wollacott.

Stevenage looked threatening when they breached the Crawley defence through Brandon Hanlan, but his cross was nicked away from a purple shirt by Charlie Barker with an important defensive header.

The Reds created a nice move leading up to a Harry Forster curling effort which was destined for the top right-hand corner, but Murphy Mahoney matched that with a terrific save, Palming it out for a corner.

Wollacott had to be wary when Kane Smith’s cross was deflected in the air, and the Reds keeper had to tap it over the bar to prevent the ball from looping in.

Halfway through the first half, Jordan Roberts found space in the penalty area, but his low powerful effort did not trouble the Crawley goal, with it lashing against the side netting.

After that chance, Crawley have a chance of their own after Will Swan drove into the Stevenage half, before laying off Bradley Ibrahim who's shot just went past the far corner.

Hepburn-Murphy had a big chance to put the hosts in front after a really nice move beforehand fell to Tola Showunmi who played through the striker, but his first touch was heavily and he did well to dink the ball over Mahoney, but the ball rolled the wrong side of the goal to the frustration of the Reds fans.

Boro started to play some nice stuff of their own, with Roberts’ lovely backheel through ball put Smith away down the right-hand side, but his cross was fired over all the players in the box, to the annoyance of the away players.

The last kick of the first half was a shot from Louis Thompson which went straight at Wollacott for a routine save.

Into the second half, and the Reds took the lead through a thunderstrike from Forster, who ran onto Panutche Camara’s blocked shot and connected with lots of power and force into the bottom right-hand corner.

A few minutes later, defender Dan Sweeney tried a long-range effort, but Wollacott did well to tip the ball over the bar for a corner, which was converted by Hanlan after he was found in the box for a simple header to level the game.

There were huge shouts from the away end for a penalty after Sweeney headed the ball into Charlie Barker, but the referee refused to give the penalty, with the Boro fans not happy about the decision.

Crawley were unlucky not to go ahead, with Ibrahim's shot saved by Mahoney, with substitute Tyreece John-Jules' rebound blocked on the line by Carl Piergianni, with the relieved Mahoney having collected the ball right after.

With 20 minutes remaining, Crawley were pushing for a winner, with Hepburn-Murphy having had two chances in a minute, one weak long shot which was blocked and a shot inside of the box which just flashed past the right post.

John-Jules had a free kick in a threatening position, but it was comfortably blocked before his cross into the box was too his for Barker, who could not get over the ball with his header.

Armando Quitirna made an impact off the bench, after he nut-megged the Stevenage defender and drived into the box, but neither him nor John-Jules could convert.

Hepburn-Murphy would be wondering how he did not score with all the chances he had tonight, with him striking over a shot from just inside the box.

The Reds were the better team at the end of the game and were looking the more likely to score, and did late on through Armando after Hepburn-Murphy got away from his marker, and was through on goal before his one-on-one effort was saved by Mahoney, with the ball coming back out for the winger to put Crawley in the lead.

It was almost three for Crawley, but Hepburn-Murphy's chipped effort just curled wide, in another agonisingly close miss from the attacker.

Despite this, Crawley grabbed a third to seal the game, with Kamari Doyle running half the pitch before hammering the ball off the crossbar into the goal, giving Mahoney no chance in goal.

At the full-time whistle, a huge roar of delight and relief filled Broadfield Stadium, after a brilliant performance from Rob Elliot’s team.