Crawley 1 Coventry City 2: Ponticelli brace condemns Reds to defeat against play-off chasing Sky Blues

Two Jordan Ponticelli strikes, either side of a Lewis Young equaliser, gave Coventry City a 2-1 win over Crawley Town, who are now without a home win in five consecutive games.

A late own goal gave the Reds their first win in two months at Port Vale last week, and the Reds were looking to find another one as they aim to finish the season off on a high.

Without a win at home since February and up against a promotion-challenging Coventry side, this was easier said than done.

A sloppy start saw Josh Payne give away a free kick, which led to Ponticelli taking advantage of some poor defending to give the visitors the lead after just four minutes.

Crawley responded well, and Young quickly found the equaliser with an excellent low driven strike into the bottom left corner after a good team move in the 12th minute.

Despite no further first half goals, there were chances at both ends. First, a brilliant Young cross just evaded the head of Karlan Ahearne-Grant before Glenn Morris was forced into a superb stop by Jonson Clarke-Harris’ long-range effort.

With Young posing a constant threat down the right, Crawley looked the most likely to take the lead in the early stages of the second half.

Smith had the best chance to do just that, after his well-timed run was found by Ahearne-Grant, but the captain scuffed his effort wide.

However, Coventry took control of the game and pinned the hosts back with a barrage of chances.

Morris made two excellent saves to deny the Sky Blues, but they eventually made their pressure tell on the 77th minute with Ponticelli brilliantly finding the far corner of the net in similar fashion to Young’s earlier strike.

With Crawley looking for a way back into the game, they managed only one clear chance with Smith again firing wide, and Coventry held out to move up to sixth in the table

Crawley: Morris, Tajbakhsh (Doherty 60), Connolly, Yorwerth, Young, Payne (Roberts 78), Smith, Bulman, Ahearne-Grant, Verheydt (Camara 59), Boldewijn

Unused subs: Mersin, McNerney, Randall, Sanoh

Coventry: Burge, Grimmer, Willis (Davies 82), McDonald, Kelly, Doyle, McNulty, Clarke-Harris (Biamou 67), Haynes, Bayliss (Reid 57), Ponticelli

Unused subs: Stokes, O’Brien, Shipley, Barrett

Attendance: 3294 (1197 away)