Crawley Town's recent momentum was halted by a stoppage-time defeat at home to Shrewsbury Town on Tuesday. The 3-2 loss at The Broadfield Stadium saw the visitors score twice in the final ten minutes to snatch all three points.
Ade Adeyemo gave Crawley a perfect start, finishing from Duke-McKenna's pass after just four minutes. The hosts held that lead until the hour mark, when Shrewsbury's Josh Davison levelled from close range. With the game appearing to drift towards a draw, George Lloyd put the visitors ahead in the 82nd minute.
Crawley responded almost immediately, with substitute Louie Watson setting up Dylan Morgan to make it 2-2 three minutes later. But the comeback was undone in the fourth minute of added time when Davison struck again to complete his brace and secure a dramatic win for Shrewsbury.
The result ends a brief upturn for Crawley, who had won their previous two matches in all competitions. It leaves them 24th in the League Two standings with just five points from their opening nine games, already 17 points adrift of leaders Salford City. Their record stands at just one win and two draws from those nine matches, with a goal difference of minus eight after scoring nine and conceding 17. Their recent form across the last five league games is one win, one draw and three losses, and they have now lost their last two.
Manager Colin Kazım-Richards made five changes to his side, which lined up in a 3-4-2-1 formation with veteran goalkeeper Mannone returning. The match statistics showed Crawley had more possession but were out-shot 16 to 12 by a clinical Shrewsbury attack.
Jonathan Russell and Dylan Morgan received yellow cards for the home side, while Shrewsbury's Luca Hoole, Josh Davison and George Lloyd were also booked. Morgan, who also scored in the recent 2-1 defeat to Salford City on Saturday 17 October, is the club's joint-top scorer this season.
Attention now turns to a key home fixture against Tranmere Rovers this Saturday. Tranmere, currently 17th, visit The Broadfield Stadium on Saturday 24 October as Crawley look to stop a run of two consecutive league defeats and climb off the foot of the table. This latest setback follows a difficult run of results including a 2-2 draw with Chesterfield and a 4-1 loss to Milton Keynes Dons last month.
