Peverall brothers hand Crawley victory

A goal in each half for brothers Sam and Tom Peverall helped Crawley Green secure a hard fought 2-1 win against local rivals Harpenden Town on Wednesday night.

The in-form visitors were quickly out of the blocks and had a Harry Hunt goal ruled out for offside after just three minutes.

Hunt and Tom Collin then both had efforts saved by Scott Bates in the Crawley goal.

Stuart Strange replied for Crawley with an effort from a Sam Peverall cross which flew just over the bar.

Town continued to dominate and had another effort ruled out by the assistant’s flag after Jimmy Warner had turned in a cross from Collin.

Harpenden followed up with efforts from Nick Elliott and Harry Hunt which were both saved by Bates.

Crawley slowly worked their way into the game and Aaron Wilson went close with a header from a Tom Peverall cross.

On the stroke of half time Green took the lead as Sam Peverall fired in a free kick from the right and the ball flew through a melee of players to end up in the bottom left hand corner of the net.

In the second half it was Crawley who dominated from the start with Tom Peverall and Sam Pemberton both going close.

Town replied with a cross from Collin which was cleared by Halfpenny.

After 54 minutes Town should have drawn level when Collin took the ball round Bates but scuffed his shot wide of the goal.

The game stayed in the balance until the 82nd minute when Crawley doubled their lead.

Sam Peverall made a good run across the box to set up his brother Tom who cut in from the left and fired the ball past Sam Taylor to make it 2-0.

Town refused to lie down and set up a nervy finish for the host’s when Jack Cartwright headed in cross to make it 2-1 after 87 minutes, but Crawley stood firm.