Carlisle United were probably more comfortable than the 1-0 winning score-line against Crawley would suggest.
The visitors only managed six shots in the whole 90 minutes and never hit the target once.
By comparison Carlisle had 23 attempts at goal, eight of which were on target, including the one that won it for them after only five minutes.
Kristian Dennis finished off well after a series of half-clearances and sloppy defending by Crawley had kept them under pressure.
Although they had more of the ball – 66 – 34 per cent – they didn’t have much threat so new keeper Thomas Holy wasn’t tested.
Carlisle, particularly on the break, played some decent football and could have added to their early lead but for some good work by on-loan from Brentford keeper Ellery Balcombe.
For the second half Crawley had to change keepers and substitute Corey Addai who made two really good stops to deny Jordan Gibson and Omari Patrick.
Carlisle had their new keeper on the bench in Michael Kelly who has joined the Blues from Bray Wanderers who play in the League of Ireland First Division.
They gave starting debuts in front of a Brunton Park crowd of 6,403 to Fin Back, Ben Barclay, Ryan Edmondson, Holy and Owen Moxon.
