Crawley Town 0-2 Bristol Rovers
Sky Bet League Two, Broadfield Stadium, Saturday 29 August 2026
Bristol Rovers beat Crawley Town 2-0 after first-half goals from Tom James in a dominant performance at the Broadfield Stadium in Sky Bet League Two.
Rovers started brightly, carving out early chances as Fabrizio Cavegn and Shaq Forde combined well but could not find a finish, with Michalski producing several strong saves.
The breakthrough came when Cavegn won a free-kick, and Tom James smashed it in off the bar, before Kamwa doubled the lead with a sharp touch and low strike.
After the interval, Kamwa and Forde both went close to adding a third, while Crawley threatened through a flick that Leigh cleared off the line. Despite late pressure, Rovers’ defence stayed solid and saw out a deserved 2–0 win in Sussex.
Rovers nearly took the lead early on as Leigh lifted a ball in behind for Cavegn, who beat the offside trap and his pull-back found Forde, but he miskicked his finish.
The Gas continued to create as Forde’s cross found Cavegn, and he, Leigh, and Ben Purrington all saw efforts saved after some fantastic work from goalkeeper Michalski.
The Rovers had all the momentum, and the Red Devils could not withstand the pressure any longer. Cavegn won a free kick after some battling down the left wing, and James stepped up and crashed the set piece in off the bar to help the Gas ahead.
The Pirates continued with their pressure and scored again before half-time. Balmer lifted a clever pass through to Kamwa, who took a brilliant touch on the right side of the box before drilling a perfect finish across the goal and into the bottom corner.
Kamwa was a constant threat, and early in the second half he flicked the ball past two defenders before placing his effort narrowly wide. Forde was next to go close to adding a third as he skipped past his man and whistled a left-footed strike over.
Forde came so close again as Richie Smallwood released him in behind and once again, he beat his man and hit a left-footed shot, but it went over. Crawley nearly got one back as a dangerous cross led to a flicked effort at the back post, but Leigh was there to clear off the line.
Crawley pushed for a way back into the contest but could not find one, with the Gas defence stopping the hosts from having a shot on target, sealing back-to-back wins in the process.
Crawley Town: Michalski, Barker, Farquharson, Watson, Aderoju, Russell (Richards 80), Kamara (Di Biase 80), Arthurs, Adeyemo (Orsi 57), Odimayo (Morgan 46), Krasniqi (Ewans-Findlay 57)
Unused Subs: Izquierdo, Tinsdalde
Bookings: Krasniqi, Watson, Morgan
Bristol Rovers: Young, James, Balmer, Mola, Forde, Kamwa, Purrington, Smallwood, Leigh (Aitchison 92), Harbottle, Cavegn (Harrison 90)
Unused Subs: Binns, Kelly, Sanyaolu, Russel-Denny, Quigley
Goals: James, Kamwa
Bookings: Leigh, Balmer, James, Harbottle
Referee: Leigh Doughty
Attendance: 4120 (851 away)
