Early Goals Cost Rovers

Two early goals by Crawley Town’s Rhys Murphy meant defeat for Rovers.

A disastrous opening ten saw Murphy score two in two minutes. On nine minutes he slotted home a cross in to the Rovers box, then just a minute later he picked up a poor Mark McChrystall header and fired home from 25 yards out. Rovers pushed hard to get back into the game but missed a handful of guilt edge chances.

Darryl Flahavan who was on trial with Rovers over the summer made good saves from defender Tom Parkes and striker Ellis Harrison to protect Crawleys lead. Rovers kept pushing and were rewarded a penalty on 87 minutes after good work from Billy Bodin who was then brought down in the box. Matty Taylor stepped up and fired home his ninth goal of the season. Rovers pushed for the equalizer but ran out of time.

Rovers slipped to 12th in League Two and next face Stevenage on Tuesday night at The Memorial Stadium.