Woe for Joe after injury-time own goal
CRAWLEY Town manager Gabriele Cioffi hailed their “never-say-die attitude” after they forced a stoppagetime own goal to salvage a draw at Northampton.
Chris Lines scored a first-half penalty to put the Cobblers ahead – he later missed a second – before Shaun McWilliams’ first goal in senior football doubled the lead. Crawley roared back through Ashley Nathaniel-George’s fine finish before Joe Martin’s own goal, five minutes into stoppagetime, rescued a dramatic point.
Cioffi said: “I always saw the goal coming because I believe in my squad and we have to take the positives from the point and from the mentality because everything else needs work.
“The never-say-die attitude is in the DNA – we’re relentless, we never die and we always believe right up until the full-time whistle.
“What people think is luck, it probably is, but it’s a consequence of our positive attitude and positive mindset.
“The first penalty was a bit of a funny decision but the second was OK and then they scored their second goal from our mistake.
“We could have sat down and given up but we kept going and it was an amazing performance from Ashley and his goal changed the game.”
Charlie Goode and Martin saw early efforts blocked in a goalmouth scramble before Northampton moved in front when Goode was fouled in the box and Lines calmly converted from the spot.
Goode was on hand at the other end to clear off the line as Bez Lubala caused problems, but after Lines missed his second spot-kick, McWilliams met Sam Hoskins’ cross with a rasping finish.
Crawley were back in the game when Nathaniel-George cut inside and found the bottom corner, and they snatched a point when Josh Doherty’s shot flicked off Martin and rolled in.
Manager Keith Curle said: “There’s a sense of frustration because you go 2-0 up at home and look quite comfortable and then up drawing the game. Crawley are an attacking threat and they’ve scored a goal in every game this season but we had a good foothold in the game, although our game management in the last 10 minutes could have been better.”