Crewe Alexandra began their League Two season with a stoppage-time win at Crawley Town, Josh March scoring the game's only goal in the 94th minute of a fixture reduced to nine men against ten by the finish.
Crawley's Kellan Gordon was sent off for violent conduct in the 50th minute, and team-mate Malcolm Ebiowei followed for the same offence in the 63rd, leaving the hosts to finish the game with nine men. Crewe were also reduced late on, Mickey Demetriou shown a second yellow card in the 84th minute, but their numerical edge told when March struck deep into stoppage time.
The visitors were the busier side, finishing with 18 shots to Crawley's nine and 11 corners to four, in an ill-tempered afternoon that produced three dismissals and five yellow cards.
Crewe manager Lee Bell said the win was further proof that his young side could not be pushed around physically. "There used to be an old saying of coming to Crewe and we'll get on top of them and we'll try to bully them, and a bunch of kids, and all this but not this group," he said afterwards. "They'll stand up to what's thrown at them and then I think we've got some ability out there to be able to then control games."