Crawley Town 3-0 Chelmsford City
The FA Cup with Budweiser
Second Round Proper
3pm, Saturday 1 December 2012
Broadfield Stadium, Crawley Town FC
Winning clubs receive £27,000 from The FA's prize fund
Click here for all the Second Round Proper results
by Gary Stonehouse

Crawley Town cruised into the Third Round of The FA Cup with Budweiser after a convincing victory over Chelmsford City.

In a first-half that lacked any real quality, the visitor's couldn't get themselves going as the Red Devils dominated.

Goalkeeper Stuart Searle was the busiest man on the pitch as Crawley's domination was such that they'd had 13 shots on goal inside the opening 30 minutes, while City could only muster one in the entire half.

Searle's hands were warmed early when Sergio Torres's strike forced him into action after some good link-up play between the Argentine and Billy Clarke down the left, and he recovered to catch Josh Simpson's follow-up shot.

Torres caused danger again on 15 minutes, striking a long range effort into the path of Simpson's head, but luckily for Searle the ball whistled over his crossbar.

It was Clarke's turn to test the 'keeper in the 21st minute, hitting a long range effort that was again saved by Searle.

As Crawley continued to dominate, it was only a matter of time before the deadlock was broken, and the goal arrived on 23 minutes.

Nicky Adams received the ball towards the right of the area and struck it goalwards, and it seemed to take a deflection as it evaded Searle and flew into the net as the hosts got their just reward.

Ten minutes later things went from bad to worse for Chelmsford. Donovan Simmonds, the hero of the Second Round, was dismissed by referee Christopher Sarginson. The winger picked up his second booking for a trip on Mat Sadler on 35 minutes.

Glenn Pennyfather must have been praying for the half-time whistle to try and lift his side, but the Essex team's woes continued to grow before the break.

Crawley right-back David Hunt found himself upfield as he whipped in a cross, and Clarke, who had dropped a yard from his marker to make the space, volleyed the ball low into the bottom corner.

In an attempt to get back into the game, City introduced Sam Corcoran from the bench into the action shortly after the restart, but he could do little to turn the tide.

Torres had another go from distance before Mark Connolly unleashed a 25-yard thunderbolt which left the crossbar rattling as it cannoned back after hitting it's underside.

Hope Akpan then danced past several City defenders before finding himself with a clear sight of goal, but his effort was tipped wide by Searle for a corner.

The match was now over an hour old and for much of that Chelmsford had been camped inside their own half with the home side racking up 30 efforts on goal.

Out of those missed efforts, the worst culprit was undoubtably Clarke, who was otherwise enjoying a fantastic performance. He picked up possession just inside the opposition half and waltzed forward past full-back Aidan Palmer, but with the goal gaping, he drove the ball high and wide.

Throughout the remainder of the match the League One side continued to press for a third, but they had to wait until the last minute to get it.

City's Anthony Cook was penalised for a lunge on Torres inside the area, and captain Gary Alexander strode forward to send the 'keeper the wrong way, sealing a 3-0 win and Crawley's place in the Third Round for the third consecutive year.

Crawley Town
1 Paul Jones, 3 Mat Sadler, 4 Mark Connolly, 6 Hope Akpan (15 Dannie Bulman) 7 Billy Clarke (17 John Akinde), 8 Sergio Torres, 9 Gary Alexander (C), 11 Josh Simpson, 13 David Hunt, 16 Nicky Adams (21 Michael Jones), 28 Claude Davis
Substitutes not used 12 Joe Walsh, 19 Nathan Byrne, 20 Charlie Wassmer, 25 Michael Kuipers

Chelmsford City
1 Stuart Searle, 2 Richard Brindley (17 Bradley Hamilton), 3 Aiden Palmer, 4 Justin Miller, 5 Mark Haines, 6 Max Cornhill, 7 Anthony Cook, 8 David Rainford (C), 9 Jamie Slabber (16 Rob Edmans), 10 Donovan Simmonds, 11 Ishmael Welsh (15 Sam Corcoran).
Substitutes not used 12 Tom Bender, 14 Craig Calver, 18 Adam Tann, 19 David Wootton.