Newport County 1 Crawley Town 1: Gutsy Reds earn point in Wales

Crawley Town picked up a hard-fought point at high-flying Newport County in League Two this (Tuesday) evening.
Crawley Town's Ashley Nathaniel-George. Picture by Steve RobardsCrawley Town's Ashley Nathaniel-George. Picture by Steve Robards
Crawley Town's Ashley Nathaniel-George. Picture by Steve Robards

Ashley Nathaniel-George gave the Reds a half-time lead from the spot before Tristan Abrahams equalised, also from a penalty, to see the spoils shared.

The result sees Gabriele Cioffi's side sit 13th on 20 points, four points off the play-off places.

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The Reds head coach made two changes from Saturday's defeat at Bradford City. David Sesay replaced Lewis Young while Nathaniel-George came in for Panutche Camara.

Crawley maintained their record of scoring in every league game this season when they broke the deadlock on 35 minutes. Bez Lubala's driven ball into the box hit the hand of County player Danny McNamara and a penalty was awarded and Nathaniel-George made no mistake from the spot.

The second half saw the Welsh side up their tempo but the visitors withstood the early pressure.

The Reds had a strong appeal for a second penalty after Lubala was brought down by Scot Bennett but the referee remained unmoved.

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However it was County who were awarded the second penalty of the game after Jordan Tunnicliffe rashly fouled Robbie Willmott. Abrahams, immediately brought on following the foul, blasted his penalty with his first touch of the game to draw level.

As Newport pushed on for a winner, the in-form Reece Grego-Cox exploited the space but he shot just wide of the post.

But at the death County should have snatched all three points. A goalmouth scramble in the area saw Abrahams clatter the post before Glenn Morris made a superhuman diving save to palm away Ryan Inniss's effort that was destined to go in.,

Crawley Town: Morris, Sesay, Tunnicliffe, Dallison, Doherty, Nathaniel-George (Camara 76), Ferguson, Allarakhia, Lubala, Grego-Cox (Nadesan 81), Bloomfield. Unused: Luyambula, Young, Sendles-White, van Velzen, Galach.

Attendance: 3,119 (83 away)