Crawley Town 1, Oldham Athletic 4: Rampant Latics outclass Reds as McAleny nets brace

Conor McAleny opened the scoring, lashing a powerful strike in off the bar, with Cameron Borthwick-Jackson adding a second before halftime.

McAleny added a third early in the second-half, with James Tilley netting a late consolation.

Dylan Bahamboula was superb throughout, and he rounded his performance off with a goal in stoppage time.

Glenn Morris pulled off two good saves from an Oldham corner, with Callum Whelan being denied before Morris held Davis Keillor-Dunn’s follow up.

McAleny had a great chance to open the scoring when he took some neat touches from a throw in to wriggle free in the box, but it was a tame effort that Morris was able to hold.

Oldham made a good start to the game, and eventually broke the deadlock when Keillor-Dunn sent a brilliant pass through to McAleny, who slammed an unstoppable strike in off the bar, giving the visitors the lead in the 40th minute.

A minute later things got worse for Crawley when Cameron Borthwick-Jackson was played in on goal, before drilling a powerful effort into the bottom corner to put the Latics two up on 41 minutes.

Reds were lucky not to be three down before the break when Dylan Bahamboula raced forward and showed excellent footwork to evade Jordan Tunnicliffe. His subsequent low drive was kept out by Morris before Keillor-Dunn should’ve scored the follow-up, firing over from close range.

The Reds made the worst possible start to the second-half, as Harry Clarke’s long ball was chased by McAleny, who rolled the ball under Morris, to all but end Crawley’s hopes of a comeback in the 47th minute.

Nichols belted an ambitious effort into the side netting, while McAleny dragged a shot just wide.

Walker pulled off a good save to tip a great free-kick from Jack Powell over the bar.

From the resulting corner Crawley got a late consolation, when Josh Wright cushioned a header into the path of James Tilley, who sent a first-time drive into the bottom corner, in the 90th minute.

Soon after Crawley’s miserable afternoon was complete when Morris pulled off a great save to keep out Nicky Adams, but the ball fell to Bahamboula, who rounded off his magnificent performance with a goal, to rub salt in Crawley’s wounds late on.

Crawley: Morris, Francomb (Davies 51’), McNerney (Tilley 45’), Powell, Nichols, Tunnicliffe, Matthews (Nadesan 40’), Craig, Tsaroulla (Sesay 66’), Hessenthaler, Wright

Oldham: Walker, Clarke (Adams 71’), Borthwick-Jackson, Piergianni, Whelan (Garrity 60’), Keillor-Dunn (Hilssner 64’), Fage, Jameson, McAleny, Bahamboula, McCalmont (Ntambwe 71’)

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