Crawley 0-2 Portsmouth: Pompey up to third after away success

Portsmouth boosted their hopes of automatic promotion by climbing to third in Sky Bet League Two with a comfortable 2-0 victory at Crawley Town.

Eoin Doyle had a penalty saved before second-half goals from Christian Burgess and Kyle Bennett sent Crawley crashing to their fourth defeat in the last five home games.

Portsmouth started positively and Bennett had an early shot blocked before Gareth Evans was off target at the near post following a corner from Kal Naismith.

Crawley keeper Glenn Morris confidently held two shots from Danny Rose 10 minutes apart and Portsmouth threatened again when Carl Baker fed Doyle and his goal-bound shot was parried by the alert Morris.

The hosts rarely threatened in the opening period, although striker Rhys Murphy shot wide in space on the edge of the area.

Keeper Morris held an effort by Naismith just before the interval after earlier cutting a dangerous cross by Bennett.

The match sprang into life when a foul by Josh Lelan on Enda Stevens gave Doyle the chance to give Pompey the lead from the penalty spot, but Morris dived to his left to save from the spot for the second match running.

However, from the resulting corner from Naismith, defender Burgess broke the deadlock with a towering header - his fourth goal of the season.

Baker came close to extending the advantage when his low shot was blocked from Naismith's excellent cross.

But Bennett struck to make it 2-0 and secure victory with a fierce shot from the edge of the area to the right of Morris on 71 minutes.