The first half was, quite frankly, forgettable, as both teams struggled to come to terms with the heavy pitch, and the cold strong wind.
Southport did have an early opportunity to take the lead when Chris Lane's throw-in found Neil Robinson, who fed the ball through to Steve Daly, but keeper Phil Smith quickly gathered the ball.
Tony Scully tried his luck on the quarter hour mark, but his shot was knocked over by Steve Dickinson.
The game really got going in the second half, the turning point after Liam Blakeman saw his shot from the edge of the area go narrowly wide.
Blakeman was then dismissed from the game for his second bookable offence, after going to ground in the penalty area.
Crawley took advantage of having the extra man, sneaking ahead on 74 minutes when Danny Brown's corner was allowed to sneak through to Danny Clay at the back post who smothered the ball home from close range.
Southport were unable to make any impression on the Crawley goal, despite various substitutions, which exposed the Southport defence more, allowing Scully to play a ball from the left wing to an unchallenged Omari Coleman, who made no mistake from close range, leaving Dickinson well beaten.
Southport did have an early opportunity to take the lead when Chris Lane's throw-in found Neil Robinson, who fed the ball through to Steve Daly, but keeper Phil Smith quickly gathered the ball.
Tony Scully tried his luck on the quarter hour mark, but his shot was knocked over by Steve Dickinson.
The game really got going in the second half, the turning point after Liam Blakeman saw his shot from the edge of the area go narrowly wide.
Blakeman was then dismissed from the game for his second bookable offence, after going to ground in the penalty area.
Crawley took advantage of having the extra man, sneaking ahead on 74 minutes when Danny Brown's corner was allowed to sneak through to Danny Clay at the back post who smothered the ball home from close range.
Southport were unable to make any impression on the Crawley goal, despite various substitutions, which exposed the Southport defence more, allowing Scully to play a ball from the left wing to an unchallenged Omari Coleman, who made no mistake from close range, leaving Dickinson well beaten.