Crawley 1-1 Bristol Rovers: Ten-man Crawley hit back to force replay

Ten-man Crawley came back from a goal down to deservedly take Sky Bet League One Bristol Rovers to an FA Cup replay with a 1-1 draw at the Checkatrade.com Stadium.

Defender Lee Brown drove Rovers ahead early on but Billy Clifford replied before Crawley had Andre Blackman sent off for two bookable offences.

Rovers went ahead after 15 minutes when left-back Brown struck from a controversial free kick.

Skipper Jimmy Smith was adjudged to have brought down Ellis Harrison some 40 yards from goal and Hiram Boateng rolled the free-kick to Brown, who netted with a low left-footed strike into the bottom left-hand corner.

Crawley hit back to equalise when former Cheltenham midfielder Clifford received a pass from Lewis Young and hit his first goal for the club from 12 yards 10 minutes before the break.

The hosts ended the half on top with Dutch midfielder Enzio Boldewijn forcing keeper Kelle Roos to save before Roos parried a goal-bound shot from top scorer James Collins.

Harrison was off target for Rovers shortly after the break before Bobson Bawling headed wide at the other end from Collins' cross.

Bawling later forced Roos to save his close-range shot after good work from Lewis Young.

Crawley were reduced to 10 men on 69 minutes when defender Blackman, booked earlier for dissent, received another caution from referee Darren Deadman for the same offence.

Rovers almost snatched victory in the last minute, Crawley keeper Glenn Morris saving superbly from Boateng.