Karlan Aherne-Grant double earns Crawley a draw at Carlisle

Posted Sunday, March 18, 2018 by PA

Karlan Aherne-Grant’s second-half brace earned Crawley a share of the spoils after coming from 2-0 down at Carlisle.

Richie Bennett and Hallam Hope scored either side of the break to put the hosts 2-0 up, but the Cumbrians’ play-off ambitions were dealt a blow as Crawley staged a battling comeback.

Hope cut in from the left and saw his initial effort blocked by Mark Connolly before he almost opened the scoring with a powerful shot from the rebound, but goalkeeper Glenn Morris did well to get down and deny the forward.

Carlisle broke the deadlock when Bennett’s superb finish from the left hand side of the penalty area gave Morris no chance after he was picked out by a pinpoint Jamie Devitt cross-field pass.

The hosts doubled their advantage inside a minute of the restart after Hope forced a close-range header over the line from Ashley Nadesan’s flick following a scramble in the six-yard area.

Crawley got back in the game after 56 minutes when Ahearne-Grant jinked past two defenders before drilling a low shot into the bottom right corner of the net.

Ahearne-Grant was on target again to level the scores with eight minutes remaining when his shot from inside the penalty area slipped through Jack Bonham’s grasp to find the bottom left corner.