MANAGER OF MONTH CURSE STRIKES
Crawley Town's unbeaten run of six matches was ended by a solitary York City goal in Saturday's Conference match at a freezing Broadfield Stadium.

The morning snow cleared in plenty of time for the match to get the go-ahead but Red Devils boss John Hollins, named joint Conference manager of the month for December, probably ended up wishing a blizzard had struck.

Hollins didn't make a flurry of changes for the visit of the Minstermen, with Chris Giles and Danny Brown returning from injury and suspension respectively in place of Sacha Opinel and Lee Blackburn.

Crawley were out of the blocks fastest and recorded the first shot on target after four minutes as good work from Steve Burton down the left saw him cut the ball back for Neil Jenkins whose sidefooted shot was cleared off the line.

The Red Devils put together some flowing passing moves in the early stages, but that was to prove their best spell of the game, which culminated in what looked like the opening goal after 13 minutes. A curling free-kick from Simon Wormull was curled into the centre of the area from the left and powerfully headed home by Daryl Clare, fresh from his Monday double against Woking, but this effort was ruled out and there was more frustration for the striker two minutes later as a tight offside decision brought him a yellow card for kicking the ball away.

York got into the game more as the half progressed and there best chance came five minutes before the break when striker Andy Bishop, a reported target for League clubs in this month's transfer window, got just too much on a quick-thinking chip over stranded keeper Phil Smith.

The second half began tight and scrappy, with Giles and York skipper Mark Hotte booked for a skirmish as they waited for a free-kick to be delivered and Wormull crossed for Jenkins to fire at York keeper Chris Porter before City managed their first effort on target after 56 minutes as Mark Convery forced a diving Smith to divert his shot wide.

The opening goal was unsurprisingly scrappy as York defender James Dudgeon smashed home after a scramble in the Crawley goalmouth following a right-sided corner which was played back to the edge of the box.

Hollins shook up his pack, first bringing on Tris Whitman to partner Clare, and then switching the Tamworth loan man to the left flank, introducing Opinel at left-back and thrusting Giles into a centre-forward role.

Lee Blackburn made some promising contributions after replacing Wormull, notably when starting a smart move which was spoiled when Clare was flagged for handball, which was ironic given how the game would end.

A suicidal back pass from winger Tony Scully almost enabled York to wrap the game up after 82 minutes and though Bishop just managed to get the ball past the onrushing Smith his clumsy second touch knocked the ball out for a goal-kick.

Blackburn fired wide as Reds stepped up the pressure late on and the game ended in controversy when Danny Brown hammered a goalbound free-kick which was stopped by the hand of a defender in the York wall inside the penalty area only for referee Danny McDermid to whistle for full-time rather than a spot-kick.

Result: Saturday 7 January (Nationwide Conference)
Crawley Town 0
York City 1
Att: 1,514
Crawley Town: Smith, Judge, Brown, Simpemba, Mendy, Wormull (Blackburn 79), Burton (Whitman 62), Jenkins (Opinel 70).
Unused subs: Ward, Grant.

HOLLINS FRUSTRATED BY HOME DEFEAT
Crawley boss John Hollins admitted too many of his players were off the pace in Saturday's disappointing 1-0 home defeat to York City.

“It was a frustrating afternoon. We didn't play well and York were organised, strong and always going to be a threat although they didn't cause us many serious problems.

“We simply didn't see enough quality from our players today and the players are disappointed with it, they don't need me to scream shout and holler at them, they know how bad it was.

“In a team you can probably carry three players having an off-day – their mates can get them out of trouble. But when you have five, six or seven having a bad day the others can't make up for it.

“We've had eight or nine games now and two defeats. This hurts but we've got to take it and get stronger from it.

“As for the penalty at the end they either give them or they don't. The linesman gave a handball against Daryl Clare outside the area just before but the end of the game summed up our frustrating day.

“We've got two cup games coming up this week (Bognor Regis in the Sussex Senior on Tuesday and Worcester in the FA Trophy on Saturday) and we might put the people who played today back out on Tuesday to get them in the habit of winning games.

CRAWLEY MAKE SCULLY DEAL PERMANENT
Winger Tony Scully, who has been on loan at Crawley since November, has signed a permanent two-year deal to stay at the Broadfield Stadium.

The wide man had his contract with League Two Notts County cancelled by mutual consent earlier this week, allowing him to join the Red Devils as a free agent.

The Dublin-born wideman has played for 14 clubs (including loan spells) since starting out as a 17-year-old Crystal Palace trainee in 1993. Manchester City paid £200,000 for his services in 1997 and he gained Conference experience with Dagenham, Barnet and Tamworth two seasons ago.

Tony made 31 appearances for Notts County last season but new Magpies boss Gudjon Thordarson made him available for transfer at the start of this season.

He made his Crawley debut against Gravesend in November and has made seven appearances for the club so far.