Cruel blow for Crawley

Since the Conference season began he has been calling on his side to produce a gutsy away performance combining solidity at the back with a ruthless touch in attack.

It finally came in what will be one of Crawleys toughest games, but two body blows meant they returned from the 700-mile round trip to Cumbria empty-handed.

They were forced to play for almost the entire second half with ten men when Fiston Manuella was harshly sent off for a second bookable offence five minutes after the interval.

Then, just as they looked to have earned a battling point, substitute Craig Farrell headed home an 84th minute winner for Carlisle.

The most disappointing aspect of this cruel setback was the fact it would have been predicted before a ball was kicked this season, never mind on Saturday.

Vines, although he may not admit it, would have written off the fixture when he plotted where his side were going to get the points to stay up.

No-one could have expected Reds to beat a full-time, former Football League club on their own patch.

That view was enhanced before kick-off as the two sides approached the game in contrasting moods.

Carlisle, the only unbeaten side in the division, were looking to set a new club record for their best start to a season and had just beaten League Two club outfit Grimsby 2-1 in the LDV Vans Trophy.

Crawley were suffering from travel sickness with just four points collected from five away games and the impressive Brunton Park looked no place to improve that statistic, especially with nearly 6,000 fans getting behind the home side.

But Crawley could so easily have added three points to their tally, not just the one they had snatched away.

Vines said: The players worked really hard and to get nothing out of the game was very disappointing.

We battled for everything and it was the sort of performance I have been looking for. That is not a consolation, though. I would have rather we played complete rubbish and won 1-0 because we need results away from home.

After we conceded we did not have the energy to cause them any problems, but what really disappointed me was that we had four great chances to score after we had gone down to ten men.

If we had put one of them away there is no doubt they would not have got their winner.

Vines was right to rue the missed opportunities. Reds will probably never have any better opportunities away from home against a Conference heavyweight.

Neil Jenkins had two shots cleared off the line and Charlie Mapes was twice denied by point-blank saves from United goalkeeper Matt Glennon.

Then there was the 25-yard drive from substitute Adrian Deane, on for the injured Rob Traynor, which struck a post and an attempted lob by Danny Davidson, who replaced top scorer Charlie MacDonald, which appeared to be handled outside the box by Glennon.

Ironically, the visitors were able to create the openings because of the dismissal of Manuella.

Reds had barely threatened until then, but afterwards United were under even more pressure to commit men forward, leaving space for Crawley to exploit on the counter-attack.

Vines was not happy about the red card. Manuella had already been booked and lectured twice by the referee when he slid in on Tom Cowan who threw himself into the tackle with equal commitment.

Both players were injured as a result, but Manuellas tackle was adjudged illegal while Cowan went unpunished.

Vines said: I dont know what the referee was doing. He was not very good to put it politely. The keeper came out and handled the ball when Danny tried to nick it past him.

And it was a terrible decision with Fiston. He won the ball and Im pretty sure it was for some of his tackles earlier in the game which made the referees mind up.

If Manuella was left aggrieved, goalkeeper Phil Smith had every right to feel devastated by the result after keeping Crawley in the game with his best performance since signing from Margate in the summer.

He made two superb stops in quick succession from Brazilian striker Magno Vieira, who is on loan from Wigan, after 11 minutes and turned a drive from Brendan McGill wide just before half time.

But it was Smiths error of judgement which contributed to the decisive goal. He decided to stay on his line instead of claiming Peter Murphys cross and the unmarked Farrell nipped in to nod home from close range.

Smith said: To lose like that is pretty hard to take. We could have been 2-0 up with ten minutes to go, but then in a split-second it all changed.

I thought we were going to win it with the chances we had, but we needed just one of them to go in. Now we have to try and pick ourselves up and make sure we dont let it happen again.

Reds have got used to bouncing back from away defeats. Each of the previous three setbacks on the road have been followed by home wins. After this performance, Farnborough better heed the warning tomorrow night.

Carlisle: Glennon, Arnison, Cowan (Farrell 81), Murphy, Andrews (Henderson 59), Gray, McGill, Billy, Grand, Hawley, Vieira. Subs not used: Westwood, Hamilton, Dillon.

Crawley: Smith, Judge, Simpemba, Palmer, Hankin, Traynor (Deane 32), Mapes, Manuella, Jenkins, Tait (Armstrong 55), MacDonald (Davidson 46). Subs not used: Little, Marney.