Ten-man Leyton Orient’s horrendous record at Crawley Town continued after capitulating to a 3-2 defeat this afternoon.

The visitors got off to an ideal start inside the first ten minutes when Jay Simpson netted his eighth goal of the season.

But Crawley levelled with their first chance of the match through Roarie Deacon and the hosts took the lead before the break from Mitch Hancox’s strike.

It got even worse for Orient, who have lost every game at Crawley, at the end of the half when Alan Dunne was sent off and Simon Walton made it 3-1 from the penalty spot.

Ian Hendon's side kept going with ten men though and Simpson gave them hope with a late goal but they could not find an equaliser.

Orient skipper Mathieu Baudry was ruled out of the game with a head injury and his place in defence went to Dunne. John Marquis was named on the bench after joining on loan from Millwall.

The O’s had an opportunity from outside the area but Dean Cox’s free-kick flew past Callum Preston’s post.

Hendon’s side opened the scoring after just eight minutes of the game. Adam Chicksen’s cross was headed against the post by Ollie Palmer and Simpson followed up to tuck the ball home after Crawley failed to clear the ball.

Orient were looking in control and almost doubled their lead through Simpson but the striker’s chip flew just past the far post.

The hosts were second best in the opening half hour but equalised out of nothing when Deacon fired a low strike past Alex Cisak.

Orient put the ball in the net shortly afterwards through Simpson after a knock back from Palmer but the offside flag went up.

Crawley were visibly lifted by their goal and Hancox put in a teasing cross which almost crept in at the far post.

The O’s fell behind in the 37th minute when they failed to clear a corner and Cisak was somehow beaten at his near post by Hancox’s strike.

A disastrous end to the half for Orient was complete when Dunne was dismissed for a foul on Rhys Murphy in the area and Walton converted the penalty.

Marquis was handed his debut for the second half as he replaced Palmer.

The hosts almost scored a fourth goal through Matt Harrold but his header was well saved by Cisak.

But Marquis almost marked his first appearance with a goal when his header was kept out by Preston’s save.

Blair Turgott was brought on in place of Cox as Hendon’s side desperately pushed for a way back in the match.

The visitors were refusing to give up despite being down to ten men and came close through Sammy Moore but his strike was tipped over the bar.

Orient were rewarded with a second goal from Simpson when the striker volleyed home in the 82nd minute of the game. 

The hosts were panicking and the O's nearly made it 3-3 but Moore's strike was cleared off the line. 

Orient made their final change late on when Scott Kashket was thrown on in place of Jack Payne.

There were six minutes of injury time for the O's to snatch an equaliser but they could not muster a final chance as their miserable record at Crawley continued. 

Crawley Town: Preston; Hancox, McNerney (Ashton, 64), Bradley, Young; Deacon (Tomlin, 69), Smith, Walton, Edwards; Murphy (Fenelon, 83), Harrold

Subs not used: Scales, Barnard, Rooney, Jenkins

Leyton Orient: Cisak; Chicksen, Dunne, Essam, Clohessy; Cox (Turgott, 60), Pritchard, Payne (Kashket, 87), Moore; Simpson, Palmer (Marquis, HT)

Subs not used: Shaw, James, Grainger, Moncur

Referee: Kevin Wright

Attendance: 2,515 (826 Orient fans)