Crawley Town 0-0 Notts Co

Notts County were lucky today against Crawley. Very very lucky. The amount of times they got out of jail today, you could write another series of Prison Break. Both teams were very attack-minded and got plenty of shots in, but some instances of slack defending by Notts would have surely seen Crawley pick up maximum points as they edged the Magpies on the attacking front. The referee, however, was very lenient, and you cannot blame the Crawley players and fans for feeling aggrieved when no penalty was given for Manny Smith handling the ball in the Notts box in injury time.

The Notts team sheet was surprising to say the least. With Dean Leacock suspended and Alan Judge picking up a knock against Orient, the replacements came in the form of Smith and Hamza Bencherif. However, Francois Zoko, Yoann Arquin and John Cofie were all benched, with the untested Jacob Blyth the lone frontman in a 4-5-1 formation.

The game began in a lively manner, Haydn Hollis facing up against Jamie Proctor early on and coming off best. Within five minutes, Neal Bishop released Jamal Campbell-Ryce early on and the winger won a corner, taken by Sheehan but easily cleared.

Although Blyth was officially the lone forward, he was supported up front by JCR and Bencherif, the youngster serving a kind of support role for the others by knocking on headers thanks to his strong aerial presence.

First proper chance of the game came to Proctor, whose strong effort from outside the box was tipped round the post by Bartosz Bialkowski.

JCR, criticised in recent weeks for below-par displays, was on great form again today, the winger threatening down the wing with his swerving runs and decent crosses, and on ten minutes, even attemped to chip the keeper like Judge did against Carlisle, but Paul Jones wasn't beaten.

Unlike the grittier displays of the last few games, Notts were very cohesive and played a strong passing possession game, to the point that the travelling fans began chanting "Ole!". However, Crawley also threatened, Matt Sparrow coming very close several times, but Bialkowski was in top form again.

Half an hour in, a good run by JCR saw him find Boucaud, who then set up Hughes for a good effort which was tipped wide.

The first half soon became very physical, as Hughes found himself both giving and receiving fouls, before Gary Liddle upended Nicky Adams for a yellow card. He also received a retaliatory foul later on for his troubles.

The first half finished 0-0, both sides putting in a strong display and having several good chances on goal.

After the food/drink/toilet/cigarette break, the 458 travelling Notts fans saw their team shoot towards their end, and the Magpies came at Crawley straight away, Bishop getting a shot in on goal, but the ref had already blown as Bencherif, ineffective in the first half, had fouled Jones.

Ten minutes into the second half, Blyth's ball penetrated the Crawley defence on the counter-attack, but JCR couldn't connect. Just a few minutes later, Bishop went for a very ambitious effort from over 30 years out.

The attack-minded Magpies were at times exposed in defence, and Adams was given way too much space outside the Notts box on 62 minutes, though he couldn't convert.

Five minutes later, Adams was just a tap-in away from giving Crawley the lead, but Liddle did just enough to knock it out of play. Predictably, the first substitution of the day for Notts saw Bencherif replaced by Zoko.

More get-out-of-jail antics ensued on 70 minutes as Hollis hit the ball against his own bar, Notts fans' hearts in mouths.

Blyth was the next to go, Showunmi replacing the on-loan Leicester player, and his impact was immediate, testing Jones with two good attempts on goal.

The final quarter of an hour was frantic, with both sides going all out for the win. Hollis made up for his earlier mistake with some sturdy defending, bailing out Boucaud and making some great tackles in the box to deny Crawley.

JCR was the last player to make way for a benched team-mate, coming off for John Cofie. The loanee made a mistake soon after coming on, losing the ball and allowing Crawley to break, but luckily that came to nothing.

The home team kept threatening, but they seemed to be suffering from the same problems as Notts up front, ie plenty of chances but nobody to convert into goals.

Proctor flashed a header past the Notts goal but Liddle cleared.

The last few minutes saw both teams huff and puff, but the whistle finally blew on a 0-0 draw which, in all fairness, seemed about right, but not before the controversial penalty appeal.

In the grand scheme of things, another draw isn't the ideal result if we're to push for the play-offs, but the travelling Notts fans can be pleased with the boys' performance as a whole, especially Hollis, who surely seems to have made a first-team place his, and really, we were very lucky to survive the waves of Crawley attacks and escape with a point.