Crawley Town 3, Peterborough United 4: Reds denied point by late Posh penalty in thriller
Crawley Town were denied what could be a vital point by an injury-time penalty as they lost 4-3 to Peterborough at the Broadfield Stadium.
A breathless first half saw an Abraham Odoh hit a hat-trick for Posh, with Reds responding through Armando Quitrina and Jeremy Kelly. Rushian Hepburn-Murphy scored early in the second half but as it looked like it was heading for a draw, Ade Adeyemo fouled Odoh and Ricky Jade-Jones scored from the spot.
Lindsey was forced into one change from the side that beat Rotherham 4-0 on Saturday with Panutche Camara replacing the injured Louie Watson.
Ade Adeyemo and Will Swan came into the squad as substitutes.#
As we have come to expect with this Lindsey side, Reds started brightly and on the attack and within the first two minutes Rushian Hepburn-Murphy flashed a shot wide from 20 yards.
Reds were exceptional with their press and gave Peterborough no time on the ball – the visitors only had one attack in first ten minutes and that was nullified by a brilliant Toby Mullarkey block tackle.
But Reds were patient and on 12 minutes got their reward when Jeremy Kelly cut infield from the left and dinked the ball over the top for Armando, who got a vital touch past Jed Steer which allowed him to pass the ball into an empty net. The Broadfield Stadium, as you can imagine, erupted.
Jojo Wollacott’s hands were still cold when he had to tip Tayo Edun’s free kick over the bar on 19 minutes but that was the onyl time the Reds keeper was tested. Mullarkey was booked for the challenge which led to that free kick.
But on 22 minutes it was 1-1 when Kwame Poku was allowed too much space to run forward and he found Odoh on the left and he slotted home past Wollacott.
And then just like that it was 2-1 and it was that man Odoh again. The ball dropped nicely for him from a corner and he struck a superb volley into the bottom corner.
The breathless action continued and it was 2-2 in the blink of an eye. And this time it was man of the moment Kamari Doyle who showed brilliant footwork in the build-up before crossed low for Kelly to tap home from close range.
It was the visitors who scored next and it was that man Odoh who completed his hat-trick with a tap-in after good work from Poku and that ended an ionredible first half.
The start of second half was continuation of the first half and it was end-to-end straight away and after Wollacott pulled off a superb save, a poor Posh back pass was pounced on by Hepburn-Murphy and he did enough to get past Steer and he slotted home to the elation of the home crowd.
It was so nearly 4-3 minutes later but Doyle’s effort rebounded off the post after great work by Armando, then Steer saved well from Ibrahim’s stinging drive.
It was relentless from Lindsey’s men.
And the pressure obviously got to Steer, who inexplicably picked up the ball outside the area. He was booked and from the resulting free-kick, Doyle’s curling effort clipped the top of the bar.
After that, clear cut chances were few and far between as the game got a little bit scrappy, which was not surprising given the effort both sides had put in.
Substitute Will Swan did have a chance with five minutes to go, but he headed over the bar from Ade Adeyemo’s cross.
But just as it looked like heading for a draw, Adeyemo’s clumsy challenge resulted in a penalty and Jade-Jones slotted home.
It was a disappointing end to what had been a cracking game.
It leaves Reds still six points off safety with a trip to Stevenage to come on Saturday.