Crawley Town player ratings: Keeper gets a 9, debutant gets an 8 but defender gets a 5 as Reds bow out of EFL Trophy at Wycombe

Benjamin Tanimu started his first game in a Crawley shirt and forward Sonny Fish also joined the starting 11 after appearing off the bench in Reds last league game against Huddersfield. Jeremy Kelly captained the side while Tyreece John-Jules appeared in the matchday squad for the first time.

The hosts opened the scoring inside three minutes when Brandon Hanlan escaped his man and tucked it into the bottom left corner with a tidy finish.

Tola Showunmi tapped a deflected long range strike by Jack Roles into an empty net ten minutes later to equalise and then Luke Leahy put Wycombe in the lead once again with an incredible free kick from just outside the box.

At the start of the second half, Reds knocked the ball around nicely and created gaps across the pitch but this was halted in the 52nd minute when a penalty was given away by Tanimu.

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Luckily for the defender, Connal Trueman who had his loan extended for another seven days came to his rescue with a brilliant save to keep Crawley in touching distance of a comeback.

With their first touches when they came on in the 61st minute, Will Swan and Hepburn-Murphy linked up nicely to put the ball in the back of the net but Swan had edged offside.

Reds tried to carve out chances but the hosts defended well and as a unit to hold onto three valuable points in the Bristol Street Motor Trophy which sees Crawley exit the competition at the group stage.

Here are how we rated the players:

Connal Trueman 9 I spoke highly of him on the weekend and Trueman had another good performance again tonight. The shotstopper did not have an awful lot to do in the game but looked comfortable on the ball. He brilliantly saved a penalty in the 53rd minute to keep Crawley’s hopes of salvaging a win from the game alive.

Ade Adeyemo 7 A powerhouse on the wing. The amount of running he has to do is insane but he does it well. Defensively he helped out when needed and tried to get forward where possible.

Benjamin Tanimu 5 It was definitely not the first start that Tanimu would want to be remembered for. After giving away two foul throws, the defender was constantly jeered by the home set of fans for every throw-in afterwards. He also gave away a penalty in the second half for handball which was saved by Trueman. Despite this, he played with lots of energy in defence and occupied some good spaces.

Charlie Barker 8 A good performance by the defender who alongside Mukena had their hands full with Hanlan who created non-stop problems for the hosts. Looked to make forward passes and kickstart counter attacks.

Joy Mukena 7 A good performance by the defender who dealt with Hanlan well alongside his defensive partner Barker. It looked as though Reds played with 2 centre halves today with two attacking wing-backs and Mukena helped cover both sides well.

Sonny Fish 6 A tough game for Fish who stayed out by the touchline for the most part. If the ball goes out to him it works but his teammates couldn’t find him which meant he had little to do. Pressed the Wycombe defence high up the pitch and did well defensively to win the ball back. His evening fin-ished in the 61st minute when he was replaced by Rushian Hepburn-Murphy.

Cam Bragg 7 A solid performance. Did not see too much off the ball so he couldn’t link up the play from defence to attack but sat in the midfield and made some good interceptions.

Jeremy Kelly 6 A pretty quiet performance from Kelly who occupied more defensive spaces rather than attacking ones. He defended well but did not make much of a threat going forward.

Jack Roles 7 A solid all-round performance from the midfielder who looked to get involved all over the pitch. He also helped create the goal as his long range strike was saved which led to Showunmi to tap in the rebound.

Rafiq Khaleel 6 Looked to be pro-active and make something happen but was dealt with well by the Wycombe defence. Replaced in the 61st minute.

Tola Showunmi 8 It was a solid all-round performance from Showunmi today. It seemed like Reds played to his strengths and utilised his upper body strength as they played through him. He held up the ball well before playing it off for his teammates and topped off his performance with a goal.

Substitute.

Will Swan 7 Looked to make an immediate impact when he made a good run before sliding in Hepburn-Murphy but it was offside. He was a constant forward threat alongside Showunmi. Came on in the 61st minute.

Rushian Hepburn-Murphy 8 He looks to be getting into the swing of things now. Came on in the 61st minute and had the ball in the net a minute later but Swan was offside in the buildup. As well as this, he was a constant outlet for Reds and was a much needed change.

Tyreece John Jules 8 I think everyone was interested to see how he would perform when he came on the pitch in the 67th minute. He had a brilliant 20 minutes where he was in amongst the action and tried to create some attacking threat for Crawley. Most of the chances that were made was from John-Jules who helped bring some much needed creativity onto the field. A good debut in Red!

Panutche Camara 7 He did not have too long too make an impact but did get involved in the action for the 13 minutes he was on the pitch. Another much needed engine in the Crawley midifield.

Bradley Ibrahim 7 Ibrahim has replicated the Jay Williams role so well. He came on in the 77th minute and made himself known to every Wycombe player on the pitch by putting in strong challenges. He picked up a yellow card at the very death of the game.