Peterborough United's 100% start to the campaign was ended as Crawley beat Posh 2-0 at London Road.
Peterborough United suffered their first defeat of the campaign as Crawley Town inflicted a 2-0 defeat on Darren Ferguson's men, who were below par for much of the afternoon against the Reds.Crawley produced the first effort on goal inside the opening three minutes as Nicky Adams was denied by goalkeeper Bobby Olejnik after hesitancy in the Posh defence.
Midfielder Grant McCann was booked for a foul on Reds skipper Josh Simpson moments later. On 19 minutes, goalkeeper Olejnik was in action again, this time denying Clarke after an excellent through ball from the impressive Jones.
The visitors opened the scoring on 21 minutes and you have to say the Reds deserved the lead, given to them by an unstoppable volley from an acute angle from Gary ALEXANDER who fired home after a good ball to the back post from Clarke.
A low Clarke shot was saved comfortably by Olejnik on 27 minutes after a bit of panic in the Posh back-line.
A well-worked Posh free-kick saw Tomlin centre for Zakuani, but his header went straight at Jones. Rowe then glanced a Tomlin corner kick over the crossbar as Posh tried to get back into proceedings.
Posh made a double change at the break with Danny Swanson and Mark Little replacing Ntlhe and Tomlin. Substitute Little was denied by Jones as Posh made a bright start to the second period.
Drury fired wide from a cleverly worked free-kick on 55 minutes after a foul from Zakuani on Alexander. Olejnik did well to parry a deflected McFadzean effort as the visitors pressed for a second goal.
On 64 minutes, the visitors made it 2-0 and you have to say they deserve the second goal, ALEXANDER again with it, firing low past Olejnik after some poor defending from Darren Ferguson's men.
Tommy Rowe tried to halve the deficit following a persistent run, but he blazed over as he forced his way into the penalty area. A looping header from Barnett went over the crossbar on 75 minutes.
Zakuani headed a Swanson corner wide of the target moments after Assombalonga felt he should have been awarded a spot-kick after a blatant push from McFadzean.
On 86 minutes, Jones was given a second booking for kicking the ball away allowing Posh five minutes with a numerical advantage.
Final Score: Posh 0-2 Crawley Town
Posh: Olejnik, Alcock, Ntlhe (sub Little 46min), Zakuani, Bostwick, Assombalonga, Tomlin (sub Swanson 46min), McCann, Rowe, Kearns (sub Mendez-Laing 65min), Barnett. Unused subs: Day, Payne, Knight-Percival, Gordon.
Crawley: Jones, Sadler, McFadzean, Clarke (sub Connolly 90min), Alexander (sub Proctor 76min), Drury, Simpson, Walsh, Bulman, Adams (sub Hurst 84min), Jones. Unused subs: Maddison, Torres, Rooney, Sinclair.
Attendance: 6,761 (231 Crawley fans)