Crawley picked up another fantastic victory on the road this afternoon with a 2-1 victory over promotion-chasing Newport County. Two first-half goals secured victory for John Yems’ side, Ashley Nadesan and Ludwig Francillette the goalscorers in sunny Wales.
It was a bright start for the Reds in the glorious Welsh sunshine. John Yems’ side was playing some magnificent football in the opening exchanges. Will Ferry especially was getting a lot of joy over his marker on the left-wing.
Crawley’s early pressure paid dividends as Ashley Nadesan poked past Joe Day to give Crawley the lead. Ferry whipped an inviting ball into the Newport penalty area for Kwesi Appiah to attack, and the striker got there first to find his partner Nadesan, who converted past Day from close range.
Things only got better for Crawley as Ludwig Francillette finished off a move that a prime Barcelona side would have been proud of. A short corner was played to Nadesan, who exchanged a lovely set of passes with Francomb and Appiah before cutting the ball back to Francillette. The centre-back beautifully caressed the ball beyond Day with the outside of his boot to give Crawley the lead.
Newport appeared to be awakened by the Reds’ second goal as the promotion chasers began to look more threatening. Tom Nichols was forced to acrobatically clear off of his own line after the ball bounced around the Crawley penalty area.
The half-time whistle soon came to curtail a brilliant half of football from the Reds. John Yems’ side had played some of their best football all season which was much to the delight of the travelling Crawley contingent.
Newport started the second half a lot better than they did the first and found a way back into the game through James Waite. The home side embarked on a rapid counter-attack with leading goalscorer Dom Telford providing the assist. The target man burst down the wing and slid the ball brilliantly to Waite, who cooly slotted beyond Glenn Morris.
County were really turning up the heat at Rodney Parade as Morris was forced into a fine stop to deny Telford from range. John Yems made two changes to provide Crawley with some fresh legs. Sam Matthews and Jordan Tunnicliffe replaced Kwesi Appiah and Joel Lynch.
Morris then made another incredible save from Telford to keep the Reds ahead. Telford spotted Morris off of his line and went for a spectacular effort. For a moment, it looked like he had Morris beaten but the Reds’ goalkeeper stretched out an arm to palm the effort away.
Morris again was forced into an acrobatic save to deny Mickey Demetriou. The Newport captain lined up a fierce shot from range, which required the fingertips of Morris to divert over the bar.
The Reds rode the pressure well and saw at the remainder of the game to claim another fantastic away victory.
REDS XI: Morris, Ferry, Lynch (Tunnicliffe 69’), Francillette, Francomb, Tilley, Payne, Hessenthaler, Nichols, Nadesan (Hutchinson 89’), Appiah (62’)
