Crawley came from behind to claim a point for the second week in a row as they drew 1-1 at Colchester United.

Freddie Sears had given Colchester the lead after just six minutes but Emile Sinclair equalised 13 minutes before half-time with his first goal for Crawley.

Reds went closest to scoring a winner with Andy Drury hitting a post and Billy Clarke having a goal ruled out for offside in the second half.

The result lifted Crawley to ninth in League One and stretched their unbeaten record to four games.

Reds have only kept one clean sheet all season and their homes of a second were wiped out inside six minutes.

Jeffrey Monakana cut the ball back from the right to Sears whose weakly-hit shot somehow found its way past the flat-footed Paul Jones from the edge of the area, possibly with the aid of a slight deflection.

Crawley responded with Nicky Adams and Josh Simpson both going close but Monakana continued to pose a threat and fired a shot into the side-netting from the edge of the area.

Colchester should have extended their lead in the 27th minute thanks to a terrible mistake from Andy Drury. The Reds midfielder passed the ball straight to Sears who squared to Ibehre but the striker clipped the top of the bar with his shot.

Ibehre should also have done better with a header which was comfortably saved by Paul Jones and a minute later Reds were level.

Mat Sadler just managed to cut the ball back from the byline and Sinclair rose above his marker to power a downward header past Sam Walker from six yards.

The visitors were so nearly ahead two minutes later when a shot from Drury came back off the post and Billy Clarke’s follow-up was saved by the scrambling Walker.

Crawley looked the more likely to score again before the interval with Adams fizzing a 25-yard shot past an upright and Drury shooting well wide after being set up by Sinclair.

The second half was devoid of both quality and chances for both teams with Crawley lacking any of their usual invention going forward.

Alex Gilbey went closest for Colchester with a 25-yard effort which hit the side netting while Clarke drew a decent saved from Walker after turning his man on the edge of the area.

Clarke did have the ball in the back of the net with 15 minutes to go from Josh Simpson’s cross but the effort was ruled out for offside.