Crawley Town's miserable start to the season continues as they crash out of the EFL Cup after 3-1 defeat to Swansea

Crawley Town's poor start to the season showed no signs of improving after a 3-1 defeat to Swansea City in the EFL Cup.

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Just four minutes into the game, the Reds fell behind when Ronald sneaked in at the back post to tap home Josh Tymon's inch-perfect cross.

Despite starting Joy Mukena, Jack Roles, and Max Anderson in place of Dion Conroy, Kyle Scott, and Gavan Holohan, Scott Lindsey was still left dealing with the same problems from previous games as the opposition exploited the wide areas.

Ronald, who caused Crawley plenty of problems throughout the half, was involved again when he flashed a low ball across the face of goal that Žan Vipotnik slid in for but missed by inches.

Crawley offered very little going forward aside from the occasional half-chance. Jack Roles had the Reds' first real opportunity when he skipped away from two markers and blazed over from distance, before Max Anderson sliced a volley high and wide.

The visitors could count themselves fortunate to reach the break only one goal down, with Charlie Barker throwing himself in front of a Zeidane Inoussa strike that would have been a certain goal, before Ethan Galbraith's low strike into the bottom corner was disallowed for offside.

The Swans almost kickstarted the second half identically to the first, but Vipotnik and Ronald were unable to guide a crossed ball goalbound.

After an underwhelming first half, Crawley were much better after the interval and began troubling Swansea's defence.

Ade Adeyemo delivered an inviting ball across the box for Kabongo Tshimanga, but the forward was unable to get a touch on it as he slid in.

After playing a huge part in the Reds' first real threatening chance, Adeyemo was forced to defend at the other end and pulled off an incredible tackle to block Inoussa from getting a shot away.

Harvey Davies was then called into action to make a strong save to deny Ollie Cooper.

However, things went from bad to worse when Crawley failed to clear their lines, and Bobby Wales took advantage of the mix-up to send a low strike into the bottom corner.

With 15 minutes left to play, Crawley managed to halve the deficit when Tshimanga smartly guided the ball into the corner after some good link-up play between Flint and Louis Flower, but the excitement was short-lived as substitute Gavan Holohan was sent off just seven minutes later for a strong tackle.

Galbraith sealed the win for the Championship side after capitalising on a lacklustre defender to find the bottom corner with a volley from the edge of the box.

Crawley are back in action on Saturday when they travel to Crewe Alexandra, who currently sit at the top of the League Two table.