Crawley Town 4, Aston Villa u21s 2: Charlton loanee inspires Reds as Radcliffe gets brace

Scott Lindsey made 10 changes to the side that beat Cheltenham Town 2-0 on Saturday with Reece Brown the only survivor from that starting line-up.

Scott Malone captained the side and lined up with Joy Mukena and Ben Radcliffe in defence.

Harry Forster and Fate Kotey were on the wings with Max Anderson and Brown in the midfield. Ryan Loft, Kaheim Dixon and Louis Flower making up the attacking three.

Both sides came out looking to play football with some quick, crisp passing.

But Reds were dealt an early blow when Brown had to be substituted after going down. He was replaced by youngster Jude Robertson just ten minutes in.

Kotey was finding a lot of room on the right and he sent in a couple of dangerous crosses which came to nothing.

But Reds didn’t have to wait long to take the lead – and they scored two goals in three minutes.

On 19 minutes, Kaheim Dixon pounced on a loose ball and scored his first goal for the club with a tidy finish from range. The Charlton loanee then nearly made it 2-0 but his two efforts were blocked but from the resulting corner, Radcliffe headed home to double the lead.

Malone was booked for an attempted late challenge. Reds looked like they were going into the break with a 2-0 lead but with the last attack of the half, Trai-Varn Mulley sent across a superb cross for Rodrigo Fortes to slide in at the far post.

There was another injury worry for Reds a few minutes into the second half when Dixon went down in a lot of pain. He received treatment and returned to the pitch with his hand bandaged.

Villa started to gain confidence and on 55 minutes they were level. Mukena played a poor pass and Anderson was forced to bring down a Villa player and referee Andrew Humphries had no hesitation in pointing to the spot. Ben Broggio scored the penalty.

But within a minute Reds restored their lead. Dixon was sent down the right and he sent a superb cross to Loft, who perfectly placed his header into the back of the net.

Flower nearly made 4-2 but his shot was deflected onto the post – but after a couple of corners, Lindsey’s men did extend their lead. Forster’s corner kick found Loft, his volley went into a crowd and came back out and Radcliffe volleyed home with the Villa keeper motionless.

Tola Showunmi and Antony Papadopoulos then replaced Loft and Malone as Lindsey freshened things up.

And it was Showunmi who had Reds’ next big chance after linking up well with Flower, but Aimuamwonnsa Asemota saved well for Villa.

Villa kept going and should have pulled one back with five minutes to go as Teddy Bloomfield sent in a cross for Brannigan. It looked like he would just side-foot home but Wollacott somehow stretched himself big enough to pull off a superb save.

The former Swindon keeper then made another great stop, this time from Bloomfield, as the game entered additional time. Jack McGrath then should have made it 4-3 but hewas the next one to not get past Wollacott.

It could have been a very tense ending for Reds if it wasn’t for Wollacott but Reds saw out the final few minutes to end 4-2 winners and their Vertu Trophy campaign was up and running. A visit to Leyton Orient next on October 7.