Leyton Orient 1, Crawley Town 0: Reds drop into relegation zone after defeat at league leaders Orient

Idris El Mizouni hit what proved to be winner in the 49th minute as the O’s opened up a 13 point lead at the top of the table, following second-placed Stevenage’s 2-0 loss at Stockport County.

The defeat in east London, coupled with Hartlepool United’s late equaliser at AFC Wimbledon, saw the Reds fall into the drop zone.

Crawley are now a point behind third-from-bottom Pools, but still have three games in hand on their relegation rivals.

The fixtures get no easier for Scott Lindsey’s men. They entertain third-placed Carlisle United next Saturday.

Orient dominated the first half, but were unable to make the pressure count. The best of the chances saw Ruel Sotiriou shoot narrowly wide midway through the half.

The Cyprus under-21 international and Aaron Drinan both came within inches of diverting inviting crosses into the Reds net, but it remained goalless at half-time.

But the league leaders needed just four minutes of the second half to go ahead. Charlie Kelman headed the ball towards Kieran Sadlier who played in El Mizouni, who cut inside and finished past Crawley debutant Ryan Schofield to make it 1-0 to the O’s.

Sotiriou then flashed a shot just wide of the far post from a tight angle as the visitors looked for a quick second goal.

Orient continued to bombard the Crawley goal, with Kelman the main architect of the Reds’ torment. The QPR loanee fired inches wide after being teed up by Theo Archibald, before he rattled the post with a fierce shot from the edge of the box.

Kelman then had the ball in the back of the net after rounding Schofield, but the linesman's flag was raised for offside.

Jack Spong was thrown on with a minute to go to make his Crawley debut, but Leyton Orient were untroubled by the Reds.

Crawley Town: Schofield, Francillette, Conroy, Lynch, Gordon (Tilley 71), Ogungbo (Spong 89), Powell, Fellows, Khaleel (Mason 89), Telford (Davis 71), Oteh (Nadesan 63).

Unused: Addai, Ransom.

Attendance: 7,943 (432 away)