CONFERENCE: Carlisle United 1 Crawley Town 0

Nationwide Conference - Saturday 2nd October
Carlisle United 1 - Farrell 84
Crawley Town 0

Crawley Town suffered a narrow 1-0 defeat at former Football League club Carlisle United on Saturday. The scoreline could have been worse had goalkeeper Phil Smith not pulled off a string of saves to keep Crawley in the game.

The Red Devils' hopes of being the first team to beat Carlisle in the Conference were not helped as they lost top scorer Charlie MacDonald to injury at half-time, midfielder Robert Traynor was also stretchered off, while Fiston Manuella was dismissed for his second bookable offence after 49 minutes. They were able to hang on though until Craig Farrell broke the deadlock with just six minutes remaining.

Crawley return to action at the Broadfield Stadium tomorrow night when Farnborough Town are the visitors. Manager Francis Vines is boosted by the news that Charlie MacDonald and Robert Traynor have both been declared fit, while Sean Hankin will also play despite needing a scan on his knee. Manuella is suspended following his sending-off on Saturday. Farnborough's squad is expected to include goalkeeper Craig Holloway, who was on loan at Broadfield Stadium last season, and striker Stephen Hughes, who was on trial with Crawley in the summer.

Bottom-of-the-table Northwich Victoria then visit on Saturday, with an early kick-off of 12pm to enable supporters to also watch the England v Wales World Cup qualifier, which kicks off at 3pm.

Carlisle: Glennon, Andrews (Henderson 59), Gray, Grand, Cowan (Farrell 81), McGill, Arnison, Billy, Murphy, Hawley, Vieira.
Unused subs: Westwood, Hamilton, Dillon.

Crawley: Phil Smith, Ben Judge, Ryan Palmer, Ian Simpemba, Sean Hankin, Charlie Mapes, Robert Traynor (Sub: Adrian Deane 31), Fiston Manuella, Charlie MacDonald (Sub: Danny Davidson 45), Allan Tait (Sub: Paul Armstrong 55), Neil Jenkins.
Unused subs: Andy Little, Danny Marney

Attendance: 5,850