The six games that could have changed Crawley Town's season - including Peterborough United, Exeter City and Bolton Wanderers

That result left the Reds four points behind Burton with one game to go.

So where did it all go wrong? Ron Alderman takes a look at where the team should have gained more points over the season, of which there have been quite a few.

Crawley Town 3-5 Shrewsbury Town (October 12, 2024)

Shrewsbury took the lead after John Marquis opened the scoring after 26 minutes, but Will Swan equalised seven minutes later, with his first goal for the club. Then the game was turned on its head.

Josh Flint received a second yellow and was sent off on 56 minutes. Despite this, Crawley took the lead when Junior Quitirna scored on 62 minutes and looked the better team. However, straight after his goal, Quitirna was replaced by Max Anderson.

This changed the whole game as Shrewsbury started to come back into the game. Firstly, Toto Nsiala levelled the score on 72 minutes, then John Marquis converted from the penalty spot after he was brought down by Toby Mullarkey to make it 3-2. A late George Lloyd double (86 and 92 minutes) put Shrewsbury up 5-2 and a late consolation goal from Jeremy Kelly (95 minutes) made it 3-5.

Crawley had more possession (56.3% to 43.7%), 15 shots on goal with five on target, compared to Shrewsbury who had 18 shots on goal but 6 on target.

Peterborough 4-3 Crawley Town 14th December 2024

Where do we start with this one? Peterborough took a 2-0 lead after 23 minutes with goals from Ricky-Jade Jones (20) and Cian Hayes (23). Ade Adeyemo pulled one back after 38 minutes and it remained 2-1 until half time.

Then came three goals in eight minutes. Hector Kyprianou restored the Posh’s two-goal advantage on 47 minutes. Two goals in as many minutes brought the Reds level with goals from Will Swan (53) and Tola Showumni (55).

However, yet again Crawley defensive frailties showed as Hayes scored his second on 61 minutes. Rushian Hepburn- Murphy missed a chance to make it 4-4, which on the balance of things would have been a fairer result.

Again, Crawley had more possession (51.3% to 48.7%), 15 shots on goal (16 for Peterborough), with 7 on target (10 to the Posh) – We will revisit this matchup later on…

Exeter City 4-4 Crawley Town (December 29, 2024).

The Reds were looking to end the year with a win at Exeter and at half time it looked like it would be a great end to the year when Panutche Camara put Crawley 1-0 after 15 minutes. Millenic Alli equalised for Exeter after 35 minutes to make it 1-1. Quick-fire goals from Will Swan (37), Tola Showumni (42) and Junior Quitirna (45+1) gave Crawley a 4-1 lead at half time.

The game settled down a little after the break, as Exeter looked a different side. But surely Crawley could hold a three-goal lead…

Vincent Harper made it 4-2 curled a right foot shot into the far corner of the goal on the hour mark, Ryan Woods scored from a difficult angle to make it 4-3 on 82 minutes, and Demetri Mitchell made it 4-4 after 90+3 minutes. There was still time for Tyreece John-Jules to have a shot from outside the box saved on 90+5 minutes. Crawley had let a 3-goal lead slip away and what should have been a certain three points turned into one.

This game is one of the few games where Crawley didn’t have the majority of the possession (56% to 44%), with 11 shots on goal with five on target (of which we scored four of them and the late John-Jules strike).Exeter had 18 shots on goal with seven on target.

Crawley Town 1-2 Wrexham (February 1, 2025)

This is a game that Crawley dominated with 65% possession and 16 shots on goal – however, we only had one shot on target.

Matty James scored after 2 minutes to make it 1-0 to the visitors and then Crawley took over with most of the possession – Wrexham had 35% possession over the course of the game, eight shots on goal and four on target.

Bradley Ibrahim scored a screamer (this goal was voted goal of the season at the end of season awards last week) with a shot from outside the box into the top right corner on 90 minutes. Crawley thought they had secured a valuable point against a title contender.

The fourth official showed five minutes of added time, with time almost up, Elliot Lee popped up with a header, despite pulling down Jeremy Kelly in the build-up – a definite foul missed by the referee. Yet another point dropped.

Bolton Wanderers 4-3 Crawley Town (February 8, 2025)

One week later, Crawley yet again threw the game away despite being 3-1.

With the game evenly poised at half time, Rushian Hepburn-Murphy opened the scoring on 50 minutes to make it 1-0 to the Reds. Jordi Osei-Tutu (52) equalised two minutes later. Two minutes after that, Will Swan (54) scored to put the Reds up 2-1, and Hepburn-Murphy (62) made it 3-1 with 22 minutes left in the game.

Alex Murphy, on loan from Newcastle, scored to make it 3-2 on 68 minutes and Josh Sheehan (85) equalised with 5 minutes to go. Rory Feely was sent off on 89 minutes and the fourth official flashed up 12 minutes of added time…

Crawley held out and was set to pick up a point when perhaps it should have been three, until a Charlie Barker own goal (90+9) gave the points to Bolton. Bolton had more possession (66.8% to 33.2%) but only one more shot on target (five to Crawley’s four).

Crawley Town 3-4 Peterborough (April 1, 2025)

Crawley must have thought it was a poor April Fools joke as they yet again let a point slip against Peterborough.

Junior Quitirna put the Reds 1-0 up after 12 minutes. The lead lasted 10 minutes as Abraham Odoh scored twice in seven minutes to put the visitors up 2-1. Jeremy Kelly equalised after 32 minutes but then Odoh (42) completed his hat-trick just before half time.

Rushian Hepburn-Murphy (47) equalised again two minutes after the break. Crawley were on the front foot and on-loan Brighton player Kamari Doyle hit the post and the crossbar and the game seemed destined for a draw and another point gained in Scott Lindsey second stint.

However, second half substitute Ade Adeyemo bundled over Odoh in the penalty area late in the game and the referee had no choice but to point to the spot. Ricky-Jade Jones (90+7) converted and gave the three points to the Posh.

Yet again, the possession stats were in Crawley’s favour (60.1% to 39.9%) but only had six shots on target to Peterborough’s seven.

Over these six games, Crawley could, or perhaps should, have had another seven points, which would have put them safe. There are other games, like Huddersfield at Home, where Crawley threw away 1-0 and 2-1 leads to draw 2-2, and plenty of games where we had more possession.

You could also look at the Cambridge United game at the Broadfield Stadium and Stevenage away. But it is all ifs and buts.

Another stat...

Another stat that has come to light whilst researching this article, Under Scott Lindsey’s two stints at the club this season, Crawley have gained a total of 20 points over the 14 games (six in the first stint and 8 so far this time around). This equates to an average of 1.43 points per game. This would have given Crawley a total of 64 points, and they would have been just outside the top 10!! Oh, what could have been…