Northwich 2, Crawley Town 0.
Two defensive errors in quick succession and another by the referee cost Crawley dear.
Their marking was sloppy when Jamie Mullan skipped past Dannie Bulman and crossed for Darryn Stamp to fire into the opposite corner of the net in the 52nd minute.
In the next Northwich attack, Lee Steele escaped everyone's attentions to put a firm finish to Stamp's pass.
Ironically, Crawley then played their best football of the match and dominated until the final whistle.
The outcome might have been different had referee David Webb had a better view of a Kevin James' shot in the 68th minute which crashed down off the crossbar.
James claimed the ball was over the line and the home defenders seemed to confirm this when they stopped playing momentarily.
There was no signal from the linesman, however, and the referee waved play on.
A few minutes earlier, Mustapha Carayol's shot was blocked by Mike Welch.
But defending got easier for Northwich towards the end.
The first half was poor by comparison. Ashley Bayes made good saves from Steele and Ryan Brown while home goalkeeper Scott Tynan also did well to save from Bulman.
Northwich: Tynan, Meadowcroft, Welch, Belle, Byrne, Byrom, Carr, Wilson, Brown, Steele, Stamp. Subs: Bowler, Mullan, Burns, Horrocks, Crowell.
Crawley: Bayes, Murphy, Thomas, Stevens, Wilson, Pinault, Bulman, Thompson, Carayol, Pittman, James. Subs: Blackburn, Allen, Dutton-Black, Joseph-Dubois, Krause.
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