Crawley Town player ratings: Three 4/10s for Crawley on a disappointing night for Matthew Etherington

Here are our player ratings from a poor night at the Broadfield Stadium.

Ellery Balcombe – 5It was a quiet first half for the keeper with no shots on target from Hartlepool’s attackers. However the only times he was called upon in the second half the ball ended up in the back of his net.Nick Tsaroulla – 6Tsaroulla showed yet again why he is important to this side. His technical ability out wide made him the biggest threat to Hartlepool’s defence. He was brought off quickly after Hartlepool’s opener, with the crowd booing Etherington’s decision to take the fullback off.Joel Lynch – 6Lynch was taken off for Harry Ransom in the 16th minute just after Nadesan and it wasn’t clear why with him not looking injured. In the time that Crawley’s number six was on the pitch he still managed to make clearances and do what was asked from him.Tony Craig – 6Craig came in for Ludwig Francillette and showed his experience at times, calmly getting rid of the ball when needed and making himself available to retain possession. However, with the lack of a clean sheet the football league veteran will be disappointed.Travis Johnson – 4Johnson came in for the missing skipper, George Francombe, and the presence of Crawley’s number four was certainly missed. Defensively Johnson seemed tame, not pressuring Hartlepool’s forwards and his night ended poorly with an own goal sealing the win for Hartlepool.Jake Hessenthaler – 5It wouldn’t be fair to give any of the midfielders a rating above 5 with Hessenthaler the first to discuss. There was too much space for Hartlepool players and that’s certainly where the game was won.James Tilley – 5Tilley got his starting chance with Teddy Jenks injured and Tilley struggled. He was out wide for a lot of the game and it spread the midfield too much with Hartlepool running through with little to no challengeJack Powell – 4Not the best of days for Powell. He was brought off for Chukwuemeka in the second half and it was a substitution few could disagree with. Only a week after scoring his first goal of th3 seaon, Crawley’s number 8 looked lost at times surrounded by Hartlepool players.James Balagizi – 6Balagizi looked bright on the ball at times dribbling at defenders but the team’s overall performance didn’t help. Once his side were two goals down he dropped even deeper to help possession and it prevented him from making any further impact.Dominic Telford – 5Telford failed to impress throughout the game. When trying to hold the ball he was regularly beaten physically and offered no goal threat during the game. After Oteh’s impressive cameo last week, its surprising Telford didn’t get subbed off.Ashley Nadesan – 6Nadesan’s night came to an end early after going down with a knock to his ankle and being replaced by Jayden Davis in the 16th minute. He still managed to make an impact in the little time he had as he set up James Balagizi for the first big chance of the game.SubstitutesJayden Davis – 4Nadesan’s injury was a blow and Davis simply could not get into the game. Crawley were toothless up front and the lack of support Davis had should point to that.Harry Ransom – 5Ransom replaced Joel Lynch and while he won a few headers and kept things ticking at times he wasn’t good enough as he was part of a defence which conceded from two set pieces, something Etherington will definitely have to work on.Caleb Chukwuemeka – 5Chukwuemeka came on with a tough task ahead of him and you can’t blame him for his performance as Crawley were already a goal down with their backs to the wall when the forward was called upon.Mazeed Ogungbo – 5Ogungbo came on with the score at one nil and was part of a defence which got worse as the game carried on. The decision to bring on Mazeed for Tsaroulla was maybe a mistake from Etherington.