Green fall short in top of the table clash

Crawley Green fell to only their second league defeat of the season as they were beaten by title rivals Edgware Town at the weekend.

In front of a bumper crowd of 180, the visitors failed to come to terms with the plastic pitch, conceded two penalties and could have lost by a bigger margin.

In a cagey opening Crawley’s Aaron Browne had a cross collected by Sam Styles in the Town goal, while Edgware’s Abdul Mansaray saw his shot blocked by Sam Pemberton.

Town’s Adem Ali, who was a constant threat all afternoon, then had a shot saved by Dean Bull, before Edgware were ahead on 15 minutes.

Stuart Strange got caught in possession and felled Bilal Butt in the box, who got up to convert the penalty.

Within a minute Crawley were level thoughas Mark Bunker set up Browne and he fired into the right hand corner to make it 1-1.

On 23 minutes, poor defending from Crawley allowed Town to re-take the lead once more.

The Maroons failed to clear a throw-in from the left as the ball fell to Jay Molloy who made no mistake.

Town then started to dominate and Bull saved well from Craig McKay and Molloy, before punching Adem Ali’s effort away.

After the break, it remained one-way traffic as Ali’s shot flew over and Molloy fired straight at Bull when it seemed easier to score.

Crawley started to get back into the game but their possession rarely had an end product.

Liam Toomey had a shot blocked and JJ Billy was off target after being set up by Browne.

In the closing stages Bull made another fine save to deny Jack Ward, although he was beaten again in added time when Crawley conceded another spot kick.

It was Browne who committed the foul in the box and received a second yellow for his troubles before Bilal sent Bull the wrong way.

The result means Crawley’s lead over Edgware is now cut to two points, while their nearest rivals still have a game in hand.

On Wednesday night, Crawley host Chesham United Reserves.