Crawley punished by three goals in the last 20 minutes
While Reds have improved on the road in recent weeks they suffered a second successive defeat at The People’s Pension Stadium on Saturday.
Three goals in the last 20 minutes sealed a League double over the Reds for an Oldham side for whom Paul Scholes is expected to take charge very shortly.
The former Manchester United midfielder wasn’t at the game but would have been impressed with his side’s finishing in the closing stages.
Reds had some good moments too and the outcome might have been different had they scored from their two best moments when the game was goalless.
On 56 minutes 13-goal Ollie Palmer latched onto Filipe Morais’ perfect pass and lobbed keeper Dan Iversen only to see the ball bounce an inch or two wide of the post.
Seven minutes later Panutche Camara was brilliantly denied by Iversen when his close-range effort looked to be heading for the top corner.
Those misses were to prove costly. The deadlock was broken in the 74th minute when Johan Branger-Engone’s free kick from a central position 20 yards out found the top left-hand corner after George Francomb was penalised for a foul.
Then four minutes from time, as Reds committed more men forward, Branger-Engone led a break from inside his own half before slipping the ball to substitute Zac Dearnley who applied a cool finish.
And to round off a great afternoon for the visitors, Gevaro Nepomuceno found the roof of the net in stoppage time after finding space inside the box.
A gusty wind inhibited both sides’ attempts to play decent football but after Crawley had made the better start the Latics created the best chances in the first half.
Glenn Morris plunged to his left in the 17th minute after Callum Lang’s clever pass set up Mohamed Maouche for a snap shot.
Morris did even better in the 38th minute when he stood up to block Branger’s angled effort.
Crawley’s best first-half moment came right at the end but a sweeping crosfield move ended with David Sesay shooting horribly over from a great position.
Oldham threatened again in the 58th minute. Morris pushed out Dearnley’s shot and Branger’s follow-up was cleared off the line by Tom Dallison.
At that stage it was anyone’s game but Oldham showed and while the 3-0 score-line was harsh on Reds the visitors had been more ruthless when it counted.
Crawley Town: Morris, Young, McNerney, Francomb, Dallison, Sesay (Poleon 86), Payne (Willock 75, 5), Morais, Camara, Gambin (Nathaniel-George 65), Palmer . Subs not used: Mersin, Maguire, Bulman.
Referee: John Busby
Attendance: 2058 (276 Oldham)
Pictured: Luke Gambin looks to control the ball during the first half
