Crawley Town

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Gulls boss Paul Buckle

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Torquay Utd 0-2 Crawley Town

Torquay United turn their attentions to the upcoming play-offs after a 2-0 defeat to Crawley Town on Saturday ended their hopes of automatic promotion.

League leaders Burton Albion recorded a 3-1 win against Histon on Saturday, effectively ending Torquay's hopes of clinching pole position by the end of the campaign.

The Gulls were on a 12-match unbeaten run heading into the encounter, but the pressure seemed too much as Steve Evans' side maintained their slender hopes of reaching the play-off places.

The match started slowly but the first real chance fell to Tim Sills for the home side, but his effort from the right-hand channel was collected by Crawley goalkeeper Simon Rayner.

The hosts threatened again in the 24th minute but Blair Sturrock saw his effort from 20 yards miss the target by a few yards.

The Red Devils took a while to get into gear and almost broke the deadlock in the 33rd minute but Jamie Cook saw his shot blocked and was unable to put away the rebound.

However, they got the breakthrough they were looking for just four minutes later when Dannie Bulman side-footed a cross from Cook to make it 1-0.

Torquay piled on the pressure in the hopes of restoring parity before the break but Tim Sills and Wayne Carlisle were both off target with their respective efforts.

Crawley came agonisingly close to doubling their lead in the 51st minute but Adam Quinn's header hit the underside of the crossbar and was subsequently snapped up by Scott Beavon.

The home side were pushing forward in numbers but Crawley held firm and a brilliant bit of goalkeeping from Rayner denied Torquay's Roscoe D'Sane from levelling the scores with a powerful shot from the edge of the box in the 78th minute.

Steve Evans' side made sure of the result in second-half injury time when Robbie Matthews latched onto Cook's inviting pass and fired into the bottom-right corner.

Torquay bookings: Hargreaves, Sturrock, Sills.

Crawley bookings: Quinn, Giles, Killeen.

Ref: B Malone (Wiltshire).

Att: 3,031.