Crawley Town 1 Crewe 1: Jamie Ashdown and Izale McLeod earn Reds point

Crawley Town came from behind to earn their second successive 1-1 draw at home to Crewe this afternoon.
Crawley V Crewe 1-11-14 Izale McLeod equalised for Crawley (Pic by Jon Rigby) SUS-140111-192620002Crawley V Crewe 1-11-14 Izale McLeod equalised for Crawley (Pic by Jon Rigby) SUS-140111-192620002
Crawley V Crewe 1-11-14 Izale McLeod equalised for Crawley (Pic by Jon Rigby) SUS-140111-192620002

The Railwaymen deserved to be more than 1-0 in front at half-time through a 18th minute goal by George Cooper after keeper Jamie Ashdown brilliantly kept out a series of shots.

The Reds fought back after the break and levelled with a well-taken goal in the 68th minute by McLeod.

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John Gregory made just one change to the side which drew 1-1 at Gillingham last weekend with striker Izale McLeod returning in place of Matt Harrold who was on the bench.

Crawley V Crewe 1-11-14 Lewis Young attacks the Crewe defence (Pic by Jon Rigby) SUS-140111-192552002Crawley V Crewe 1-11-14 Lewis Young attacks the Crewe defence (Pic by Jon Rigby) SUS-140111-192552002
Crawley V Crewe 1-11-14 Lewis Young attacks the Crewe defence (Pic by Jon Rigby) SUS-140111-192552002

Marvin Elliott was left out of the squad for the second week.

Crewe made five changes to the line-up which lost 1-0 at home to Sheffield Utd with Anthony Grant and George Ray suspended and were missing eight regular players in total.

Crewe scored a well-taken goal in the 19th minute when George Cooper played a one-two with James Baillie on the right and struck the cross first time from 15 yards to the right of keeper James Ashdown.

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On the half hour Crawley began to get more into the game as McLeod twice had shots saved by keeper Ben Garratt while Lewis Young also had an effort blocked.

Crawley V Crewe 1-11-14 George Cooper celebrates his goal for Crewe (Pic by Jon Rigby) SUS-140111-192537002Crawley V Crewe 1-11-14 George Cooper celebrates his goal for Crewe (Pic by Jon Rigby) SUS-140111-192537002
Crawley V Crewe 1-11-14 George Cooper celebrates his goal for Crewe (Pic by Jon Rigby) SUS-140111-192537002

But the period of Reds pressure was shortlived as at the other end Jamie Ashdown had to perfrom some heroics to prevent a couple more goals.

Crawley were lucky not to go into half-time further behind.

Ashdown pulled off a brilliant piece of reaction work to get his fingertips to the ball to deny John Guthrie from three yards to turnaround for a corner and then moments later made a double save to keep out two shots by Harry Davis.

Crawley made a change of formation for the second half, switching from one up front to two strikers as Matt Harrold came on for midfielder Conor Henderson.

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Harrold and McLeod were often joined when going forward by Gwion Edwards and Lewis Young, effectivly making four in attack.

The second half began slowly with both sides cancelling each other out. A nice passing move from the Reds ended in Lewis Young getting a shot in from an unlikely angle from the byline but it made easy work for keeper Garratt.

Crawley’s intention paid off when Edwards crossed from the right to McLeod drove an equaliser from 15 yards to score his seventh goal of the season.

Crewe nearly regained the lead through a free-kick which forced a diving save by Ashdown.

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in the last ten minutes Crawley’s Keith Keane fired from Lanre Oyebanjo’s throw-in but the attempt went straight to Garratt, then McLeod headed a chance wide as Reds had to settle for a point.

REDS (4-1-4-1): Ashdown, Oyebanjo, Henderson (Harrold 46), Leacock, Edwards, McLeod, Simpson, Walsh, Young, Keane, Sadler.

Unused subs; Jensen, Bradley, Smith, Banya, Bawling, Tomlin

CREWE: Garratt, Guthrie, Davis, Dugdale, Turton, Atkinson, Cooper (Haber 87), Baillie, Leigh, Brandy (Saunders 87), Haynes (Jones 75).

Unused subs: Shearer, Johnston, Waters, Ng.

REFEREE: Brendan Malone

ATTENDANCE: 2,329 (191 away)

MAN OF THE MATCH: Jamie Ashdown

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