Former Coventry City favourite Dave Bennett made a dramatic first
appearance for United against promotion chasing Crawley Town.
‘Benno’, who scored at Wembley when Coventry won the FA Cup in 1987, played a
big part in United grabbing the lead after only 45 seconds of action.
He fired the ball into the danger area and Crawley’s skipper John Mackie
accidentally deflected it into his own net.
It got better for Atherstone nine minutes later when Lee Middleton, a former Coventry
City youth player, launched a deep corner kick which reached Mark Albrighton at the far
post. He brought the ball down and lashed it into the net.
It was a platform for victory for United, but they had a few anxious moments after Ben
Abbey scored for Crawley with ten minutes to play.
The sides were reduced to ten men in the 72nd minute when Craig Dean and
Mark Hawthorne clashed and were sent off.
