REDS REACH LAST 16 IN TROPHY
Crawley Town reached the last 16 of the FA Trophy for the first time in their history with a comfortable 3-1 second-round victory over Worcester City at Broadfield Stadium.

Second-half goals from Chris Giles, Tony Scully and Steve Burton against the Conference North side put the Red Devils into Monday's draw, which six other Conference sides have qualified for so far, while two more facing replays.

Crawley went into the game without top scorer Daryl Clare, who also missed the first round win at Stevenage, as the striker is nursing a slight groin injury.

Midfielder Paul Armstrong returned to the starting line-up, with Simon Wormull moving across to the right flank and Tony Scully switching wings to the left. Sacha Opinel replaced Chris Giles at left-back, as the versatile former Aldershot man was given a chance to partner Burton up front.

It would be generous to describe the first half as forgettable, the dreadful opening period livening up only in the final five minutes. After 42 minutes, a great long pass by Armstrong released Wormull down the right channel and his accurate centre found Giles with only Worcester keeper Danny McDonnell for company on the edge of the area. The utility man managed to get a shot away but saw it clip the outside of the post.

Wormull was again involved two minutes later as he smartly took a free-kick on the right edge of the area quickly and found Burton , who had a clear sight at goal but the striker miskicked badly.

Crawley boss John Hollins resisted the temptation to make changes at half-time and had to wait only two minutes after the restart for his side to take the lead.

Tony Scully provided the cross for Giles to hammer home a close-range volley in front of the South Stand.

Lee Blackburn was brought on to replace Armstrong and Crawley extended their advantage after 59 minutes with a brilliant individual effort from Scully. The former Notts County man drifted into the area, turning a posse of defenders inside and out before hammering a shot into the roof of the net.

Crawley launched a flurry of attacks as their confidence rose, although Wormull went off to be replaced by Neil Jenkins, which saw Scully switch to the right flank where he proved just as dangerous.

After 73 minutes Burton burst clear, poked the ball one side of visiting skipper Des Lyttle and collected it on the other before ramming his shot into the far corner of the net.

Giles hit the post again after 75 minutes as some terrible defending saw at least two Worcester players allow the ball to run between them and the alert Giles latched on to it and clipped a shot past McDonnell only to see it come back off the woodwork.

Worcester gained some reward for their journey when player-boss Andy Preece struck in the third five added minutes at the end of the game. A Phil Smith goal-kick was returned with interest by the Worcester defence and the City strikers were much quicker than the home defence to get after it, Adam Webster cutting the ball back from the right side for Preece to fire in.

Result: Saturday 14 January (FA Trophy 2nd Round)
Crawley Town 3
Worcester City 1
Att: 878
Crawley Town: Smith, Judge, Brown, Simpemba, Mendy, Wormull (Jenkins 65), Armstrong (Blackburn 51), Burton (Whitman 82), Opinel, Scully, Giles.
Unused subs: Ward, Grant.

HOLLINS: WE'RE IN IT TO WIN IT
Crawley boss John Hollins said he was happy with his side's second-half display against Worcester, which puts the Red Devils just three rounds from a showpiece final.

“It's a cup tie and it doesn't really matter how you do it as long as you get into the next round We tried something different with Gilo up front, trying to see if we can hold the ball up rather than having it coming straight back at us all the time, while we had Simon and Tony on the flanks as attacking options. He got a goal, too, he wasn't just providing little headers and flicks for the others. It's an option for us in the future.

“Chris has played up front for Yeovil and it gives us something different.

“We talked to the team at half-time and we started to put some good moves together. The first goal was a good variation from a corner, the second showed you what Tony Scully is all about – he has quality and pace – and the third highlighted how good Steve Burton is when he's one-on-one.

“What annoyed me was the sloppy goal we gave away at the end. We are trying to teach them how to play the game and when you are 3-0 up when the sign for five minutes extra goes up you should win the game 3-0 or 4-0, not 3-1.

“We weren't good in the first half but we could still have gone in 2-0 up and it was good to see that our heads didn't drop.

“I don't like goals going in against us because it gives the other side a lift. I want the other team to be miserable and have no chances whatsoever but when they did get through today, Phil Smith made a great save.

“We're in this cup to win it. I might rather have had three league points for a win and three points for winning at Stevenage in the first round but we have to aim to stay in the cups and pick up the points in league games.

“We were improved from the game against Bognor and now we move on to Hereford.”

Hollins explained that the reason striker Jamie Cade had gone on loan to Conference South Lewes to get match practice in meaningful games.

“We want Jamie to get some meaningful matches under his belt and we will watch him playing for Lewes, while he will continue to train with us every day.”

Hollins said that Crawley's other loaned-out players, midfielder Joe Keehan (Eastbourne Borough) and goalkeeper James Plumley (Ramsgate) are also still training with the Red Devils.