Accrington boost play-off push with dramatic win
Play-off chasing Accrington celebrated a 4-1 victory over Crawley as three players were shown red cards in a bad-tempered League Two match.
Both teams finished with 10 men after a melee following a challenge which saw Stanley's Shay McCartan and Crawley's Simon Walton sent off, while Accrington's unused substitute keeper Jason Mooney was dismissed for racing onto the pitch.
Crawley opened the scoring in the 21st minute when Walton's 18-yard shot was blocked and it fell to Gwion Edwards, who turned and rifled into the top corner.
Whatever John Coleman said at half-time worked as it was all square three minutes after the restart. Matt Crooks' strike was only pushed away by keeper Paul Jones into the path of Billy Kee, who tapped home his 11th of the season.
The game erupted in the 65th minute following McCartan's tackle on Jon Ashton. A full-scale fracas followed, with McCartan shown a red card for the challenge and Walton and Mooney for the aftermath.
Stanley were on top and defender Matty Pearson notched the all-important second in the 73rd minute when he got the ball 18 yards out and fired into the bottom corner.
Seamus Conneely made the game safe on 87 minutes from the edge of the area and Piero Mingoia put the icing on the cake in injury time after racing half the length of the pitch.
Source: PA
