Wrexham 4-1 Crawley Town: Reds suffer chastening defeat but play-off hopes remain intact

First-half goals from Ryan Barnett and Paul Mullin put the Red Dragons into a commanding two-goal lead.

Cannon added a third on the 76th minute before Mullin grabbed his second goal of the night to add the cherry on the cake with eight minutes of normal time remaining.

Klaidi Lolos found the net in injury-time but was it was too little, too late from a Crawley point of view.

The win solidified the hosts’ place in the automatic promotion spots, whilst Crawley remain in seventh – the final play-off place – with a three point cushion and a game in hand over AFC Wimbledon.

The Reds came into the game on the back of consecutive away wins at Newport County and Mansfield Town – scoring eight goals in the process and conceding just once.

However, for the first time since the beginning of March, Scott Lindsey’s side found themselves a goal down away from home.

It was Barnett who broke the deadlock after 21 minutes with a header at the back post – beating Nick Tsaroulla in the air.

Tsaroulla looked the most likely player to score for Crawley in the first half with two efforts on target. But it was Wrexham who doubled their lead when Paul Mullin was left unmarked to tap in from close range.

The stats showed that Crawley were dominating possession but struggled to properly test Arthur Okonkwo in the Wrexham goal.

The home side continued to defend resolutely in the second half, with Crawley passing the ball around without troubling the defence.

Laurence Maguire let fly from distance but it was saved well by Okonkwo just before the hour mark.

The Reds were not making the most of their set piece opportunities to get back into the game, whilst Danilo Orsi was being kept very quiet.

Wrexham were a real a threat on the counter and Andy Cannon saw a shot saved by Addai.

Cannon wasn’t to be denied again as he made it three to kill the game on the 76th minute.

Crawley thought they had a consolation goal when Forster put the ball into the back of the net after a lovely first touch but the offside flag was up.

With the visitors committing men forward, they were hit on the break again and Mullin beat Addai when played through one-on-one – his 23rd goal of the season

Lolos – who was nominated for the League Two player of the month award for March – continued his fine goal-scoring form with a poacher’s effort in the third minute of injury tine to deny Wrexham their clean sheet.

Crawley will have to dust themselves down and get ready to go again as they have a huge home match against relegation-threatened Colchester United on Saturday (April 13).

Wrexham: Okonkwo, Barnett, Cleworth, O'Connell, O'Connor, McClean,Cannon, Evans, Lee, Palmer, Mullin,

Crawley: Addai, Wright, Conroy, Maguire, Gordon (Adeyemo 61), Williams (L. Kelly 51), J. Kelly, Tsaroulla (Forster 59), Darcy, Lolos, Orsi (Campbell

Unused subs: Roles, Sandford, Mukena, Campbell.

Attendance: 11,544 (316 away fans)