Crawley Town 4-0 Bristol Rovers
Sky Bet League Two, Broadfield Stadium, Saturday 25 October 2025
Bristol Rovers lost 4-0 to Crawley Town in their Sky Bet League Two clash at Broadfield Stadium.
After a promising start to the contest, where an attacking trio of Fabrizio Cavegn, Promise Omochere and Shaq Forde were causing the hosts plenty of problems, the Gas conceded a penalty and went down to ten men when Jack Sparkes handled the ball in the box.
Ryan Loft thumped the post with his spot-kick, but the Red Devils went ahead before the break after Scott Malone's effort deflected off of Alfie Kilgour's leg and looped over Luke Southwood and into the far corner.
Crawley then made the most of their man advantage in the second half, with Harry Forster, Malone and Louis Flower netting to help Scott Lindsay's team to victory.
Darrell Clarke refreshed his starting squad, making four changes to the team that lost to Tranmere Rovers last weekend. Shaq Forde and Promise Omochere started in the attack, with Joel Cotterill appearing on the right wing-back. Tom Lockyer, who returned to the Pirates on a contract until the end of the campaign, also came straight into the side.
The Gas started brightly, with Promise Omochere battling hard to win possession down the right before driving forward down the right and pulling a low cross towards Fabrizio Cavegn. However, his ball deflected away from the striker.
Clarke's men looked to break the deadlock but could not perfect their final pass before two separate, few-minute spells changed the complexion of the contest.
Rovers found themselves with an enforced substitution with Luke Thomas replacing a recently injured Omochere before quickly going down to ten men when Sparkes handled the ball in the box.
Loft stepped up for the spot-kick, but slammed the bottom of the left post. Shaq Forde then thundered a powerful strike on target, with Joe Wollacott pushing the ball onto the bar before the Red Devils took a fortunate lead. Malone's drive flicked off Kilgour, with the ball lofting into the air and into the far corner.
The hosts then doubled their lead seven minutes after the break through Forster, who got onto the end of Malone's cross from the left to thump his strike in from close range. Malone then turned from provider into scorer, making the most of a loose ball in the box to convert.
Heading into the closing stages, Crawley scored again. Flower collected possession on the edge of the box and struck his effort past Southwood from range to complete the scoring.
Rovers will look to get back to winning ways when they travel to fellow Sky Bet League Two outfit Bromley in the first round of the Emirates FA Cup next weekend.
Bristol Rovers: Southwood, Sparkes. Kilgour ©, Forde (Dewsbury, 46’), Omochere (Thomas, 31’, Bilongo, 56’), Lockyer (Negru, 57’), Cotterill (McEachran, 78’), Conteh, Chang, Cavegn, Łopata
Subs not used: Sotiriou, Issaka
Booked: Southwood, Lockyer
Red: Sparkes
Crawley Town: Wollacott, Malone (Flower, 76’), Conroy ©, Bajrami (Forster, 46’), Barker, Anderson, Holohan (Brown, 81’), Scott, Loft (Tshimanga, 81’), Watson (Dixon, 81’), Flint
Goals: Kilgour (og), Forster, Malone, Flower
Booked: Bajrami, Scott
Subs not used: Roles
Officials: Richard Eley
Attendance: 3,416 (715 away)
