Torquay United 4 Crawley Town 1
United dumped Crawley Town out of the F. A. Trophy with a 4-1 win at Plainmoor in front of 2301 supporters this afternoon. An excellent display by United gave Crawley no opportunity to progress in this year's competition and the Gulls await the semi-final draw on Monday.
Kaid Mohamed retained his place in the starting line-up with Lee Phillips starting on the bench in what was otherwise an unchanged United line-up from the Ebbsfleet match. A positive start by United didn't produce much in the way of chances early on but Martin Rice was solid in his handling from some decent crosses from the visitors. Crawley were holding quite a high defensive line and United were knocking on the door without being unable to find the final pass.
The first clear cut chance of the game produced a goal; Roscoe Dsane latched on to a bouncing ball on the edge of the area and produced a neat lob over the head of Ashley Bayes to put United ahead. Crawley almost replied immediately when Thomas met a corner with a strong header but it was directed straight at Rice. Both sides were a little astray with some of their passes and United were caught in possession a couple of times on the edge of their own area and caused themselves some unnecessary pressures but on the whole United were looking comfortable at the back. Crawley were doing their best to try and put some pressure on Martin Rice's goal but their final ball was letting them down and although they had plenty of possession it was United who were looking more likely to be the next scorers. A half time lead for Torquay in a cup tie surely meant that the opposition would come out and have a go in the second half.
Crawley started the second half positively, forcing an early corner, but that was about as good as it got for the visitors. United totally outplayed Crawley for the remainder of the game and the final score could well have been more but we shouldn't get greedy! Roscoe Dsane did well down the left wing and his centre almost fell to Zebroski but he couldn't get control of the ball. More pressure was to come and it nearly finished with Tim Sills adding to his impressive goals tally; Chris Hargreaves did well in midfield to win the ball and give it to Kevin Nicholson who whipped in a left footed cross which Tim met fully but couldn't direct past Bayes. Just before the hour mark United doubled their lead; Dsane took down a high ball and slipped a pass to Mohamed who had made a run to his right, Kaid took one touch and calmly finished low to Bayes' right inside the far post, a very tidy finish, 2-0.
It was all united now and seven minutes later they increased their lead; another strong run down the right from Dsane finished with the United forward laying the ball inside for Mohamed whose first shot was blocked, Kaid reacted quickly and hit a low left foot drive wide of the diving Bates for his fourth goal in a week and put the match out of Crawley's reach. Just two minutes later and Lee Phillips, who had replaced Tim Sills, was put through on goal by Steve Adams but under pressure slipped his shot wide from 16 yards out with Bayes beaten. Tim has a slight knock but will be fine for the Altrincham game according to Paul Buckle after the match. In the 77th minute Chris Zebroski produced some magic on the left wing and drew two defenders with him to the by-line, his cross was perfect in that it took Bayes and three defenders out of the play and gifted Lee Phillips with an easy far post header. At this point any score was looking possible and Zebroski almost helped himself to a goal with 5 minutes left but after forcing his way through a couple of defenders his rasping drive went well over the crossbar. The last word was, however, Crawley's; a corner from the left was hit low and flicked on by Wilson and the ball seemed to hit the arm of a United defender. The referee awarded the spot kick and it was duly dispatched by Cook with a very cool finish high to Rice's right giving him no chance. In the end a convincing win for Paul Buckle's team and no-one left in the competition is going to relish a semi-final against this United side.
Line-ups:
United: Rice; Nicholson, Todd, Mansell (Robertson 82), Sills (Phillips 68), Hargreaves, Dsane (Benyon 80), Mohamed, Adams (c), Ellis, Zebroski. - Subs not used: Hockley, Stevens.
Crawley: Bayes; Thomas, Stevens, Thompson(c) (Blackburn 71), Bulman, Pittman (Allen 74), Wilson, Pinault, Cook, Murphy, Dutton-Black. - Subs not used: Shimmin, Vieira, Krause.
Goals:
United: Dsane 19, Mohamed 59, 66, Phillips 77
Crawley: Cook 87 (pen)
Yellow Cards:
United: Mansell 44, Adams 52
Crawley: Bayes 75
Shots on goal:
United 5
Crawley 1
Off Target:
United 3
Crawley 4
Attendance: 2301
