Cheltenham go top as Crawley fixtures start to pile up!

Last updated : 28 January 2012 By westfield shrimper / DSG

Jombati: Started fight back

Jombati: Started fight back
 
The visitors started brightly, and Luke Garbutt forced Macc keeper Jose Veiga to palm wide a fierce 25-yard free-kick in the 17th minute.
 
Colin Daniel then went close for the home side when he drilled a shot inches past an upright before the hosts took the lead on the half-hour. Matty Hamshaw laid a perfect diagonal ball to the far post for debutant Marcus Marshall to slide home.
 
Cheltenham laid siege on the Macc goal in search of an equaliser, which duly arrived when Sido Jombati smashed home from close range in the 37th minute.
 
Kaid Mohamed sent a bullet volley wide in the 55th minute as the Robins dominated after the break. And the Gloucestershire outfit finally took the lead when Jeff Goulding picked out the far corner from the edge of the box to convert a neat Brian Smikle pass in the 67th minute.
 
Cheltenham keeper Scott Brown denied young Macc striker Ben Mills a first goal in senior football when he palmed an eight-yard header wide in the 81st minute before Garbutt sealed the win deep in injury time with a free-kick that deflected off Marshall past the stranded Veiga.
 
So we are the ex-league leaders, until Tuesday night we hope!
 

Tubbs: Celebrates his winning goal

Tubbs: Celebrates his winning goal
 
The creepies striker Tubbs raced onto a fine throughball from Sergio Torres to slide the only goal of the game under Tigers keeper Vito Mannone and revive dreams of last year's last 16 trip to Old Trafford.

Steve Evans' underdogs richly deserved their win over a Hull side featuring seven changes to their last league outing, with on-loan new boy Sanchez Watt agonisingly close to extending their margin of victory late on.

Crawley, currently second in their first league season, oozed confidence from the start with Tubbs sending Mannone scrambling early, and Sanchez Watt - signed from Arsenal until the end of the season - causing problems with his pace.

Tubbs aimed an overhead kick just over Mannone's bar after a lofted pass by Torres, and a Watt shot put more pressure on the home keeper as Crawley completely dominated the opening quarter of an hour.

With the underdogs' attacks unrelenting, Tyrone Barnett beat Mannone on the by-line but drilled his attempted cross at the legs of Daniel East. In a rare response from Hull, Liam Cooper headed well wide.

Crawley created another fine chance on 32 minutes when Tubbs was denied the chance to get on the end of Barnett's cross in front of goal by a superb interception from Joe Dudgeon.

Nick Barmby's men finally managed their first shot on target in the 39th minute when Tom Cairney unleashed a low, long-range effort from the left which drifted into the hands of Crawley keeper Scott Shearer.

And Robbie Brady came closest one minute before the break when he lashed another long-range strike which took a deflection in the box and was well saved by Shearer diving to his left.

Hull's revival continued just after break when Cairney saw a curling effort flapped behind by Shearer, but the visitors came close at the other end when captain Pablo Mills drilled a shot which Mannone did well to tip wide.

Crawley finally broke the deadlock in the 57th minute when Torres sent Tubbs clear cutting in from the left flank, and the striker kept his poise to squeeze the opener home under Mannone.

The goal sparked the game into life, with Richard Garcia almost prodding Hull level within two minutes only for a full-stretch Shearer to scoop the ball off his goal-line in a crowded box.

Shearer was fortunate to escape in the 68th minute when he raced from his box to reach a through-ball and was beaten to it by Hull substitute Aaron Mclean, who clattered his attempted lob against the keeper.

Crawley should have extended their lead in the 75th minute when Watt brought a point-blank save out of Mannone and from the resulting corner the same player somehow hit the outside of the post with the goal at his mercy.

Hull's last chance to salvage an equaliser fell to substitute Mark Cullen in injury time but his swinging shot was blocked in a crowded box and Crawley hung on to secure another famous win.

Well done lads, just keep those fixture piling up, but Swindon out, losing 2-0 to Leicester.

Full League Two scores & reports with stanley moving into the paly-off spots: http://news.bbc.co.uk

Full FA Cup Fourth Round scores & reports: http://news.bbc.co.uk

League Two

1 Cheltenham Town 27 9 2 3 19 8 8 2 3 23 16 17 4 6 42 24 55 +18
2 Southend United 26 7 4 2 21 9 9 0 4 30 19 16 4 6 51 28 52 +23
3 Crawley Town 26 10 1 2 29 11 5 6 2 19 19 15 7 4 48 30 52 +18
 
4 Shrewsbury Town 27 10 3 0 22 7 5 3 6 19 18 15 6 6 41 25 51 +16
5 Torquay United 28 8 5 2 27 17 6 3 4 15 15 14 8 6 42 32 50 +10
6 Swindon Town 26 9 2 1 26 7 6 2 6 15 13 15 4 7 41 20 49 +21
7 Accrington Stanley 28 8 1 5 24 19 3 9 2 14 13 11 10 7 38 32 43 +6
 
8 Oxford United 27 5 6 2 23 14 6 3 5 15 13 11 9 7 38 27 42 +11
9 Gillingham 27 7 3 2 22 12 5 2 8 25 27 12 5 10 47 39 41 +8
10 Port Vale 28 6 2 6 25 21 6 3 5 20 18 12 5 11 45 39 41 +6
11 Burton Albion 27 6 4 3 16 15 5 4 5 24 26 11 8 8 40 41 41 -1
12 Crewe Alexandra 28 5 2 6 19 19 7 1 7 18 21 12 3 13 37 40 39 -3
13 Rotherham United 27 6 2 5 18 14 4 5 5 26 28 10 7 10 44 42 37 +2
14 Morecambe 27 3 4 7 23 21 6 5 2 20 13 9 9 9 43 34 36 +9
15 AFC Wimbledon 28 4 3 8 22 32 6 2 5 17 21 10 5 13 39 53 35 -14
16 Bristol Rovers 28 5 3 7 19 24 4 3 6 17 25 9 6 13 36 49 33 -13
17 Barnet 27 5 3 5 19 22 4 2 8 16 24 9 5 13 35 46 32 -11
18 Aldershot Town 27 4 3 6 10 12 5 1 8 16 23 9 4 14 26 35 31 -9
19 Macclesfield Town 28 5 6 4 17 13 3 0 10 9 21 8 6 14 26 34 30 -8
20 Bradford City 27 5 4 5 23 19 1 5 7 9 19 6 9 12 32 38 27 -6
21 Hereford United 28 3 2 10 13 30 3 6 4 14 15 6 8 14 27 45 26 -18
22 Dagenham & Redbridge 28 5 1 9 20 26 2 2 9 9 23 7 3 18 29 49 24 -20
 
23 Plymouth Argyle 28 3 4 6 15 19 2 3 10 14 31 5 7 16 29 50 22 -21
24 Northampton Town 28 1 4 9 15 31 4 2 8 18 26 5 6 17 33 57 21 -24
 
S24 is looking to build up it's editorial team, why not join us at the Shrimpers fastest growing unofficial site with up to and over 2,000 hits a day currently this month?
 
If you have something to say on the present exciting times at Southend United or an idea for a new poll, then click on the link with your article or contact details and we will get in touch, just a few lines will do: www.southendunited-mad.co.uk