Burton Albion 1, Crawley 0

Crawley's dismal record in Staffordshire continued as they slipped to their fourth successive defeat at Burton.

A solitary goal from former Red Devils' striker Daryl Clare was eventually enough to separate the two sides in a contest played out in a horrible swirling wind.

And boss Steve Evans could find himself in hot water again after he and assistant Paul Raynor were both sent to the stand by the referee.

The winner came in the 58th minute when Burton were awarded a free kick 25 yards out. Clare's effort hit the defensive wall and completely wrong-footed Ashley Bayes to fly into the right-hand side of his goal.

Crawley had gone close to taking the lead four minutes earlier when Thomas Pinault saw a 20-yard shot cannon off the crossbar.

Crawley piled on the pressure towards the end of the game after Evans and Raynor had been sent from the dugout by referee Dean Mohareb.

With five minutes to go Jamie Cook's corner was powerfully met by a Jon-Paul Pittman header that forced Saul Deeney to turn the ball from under his crossbar.

A minute later Deeney was almost caught out trying to chest a ball down and substitute Lee Blackburn saw his close-range shot fly over the crossbar.

In the first half Dannie Bulman had come closest to breaking the deadlock when he seized onto a loose ball and ran into the Burton penalty area only to see Deeney rush from his goal and make a sliding tackle with his feet to deny the industrious midfielder.

Burton's best chance in the first half came ten minutes before the interval when John McGragh won the ball from Glenn Wilson and crossed for Clare who volleyed just over the cross bar from eight yards out.

Crawley: Bayes, Wilson, Thomas, Stevens, Krause, James, Pinault, Thompson, Bulman, Pittman, Cook. Subs: Blackburn, Murphy, Joseph-Dubois, Carter, Carayol.