Crawley 1 Halifax 2 Midgley's late penalty earns win
Sunday People
03:06, 09 Feb 2013Updated 06:31, 09 Feb 2013
CRAIG MIDGLEY struck the winning penalty for Halifax to give his team a crucial three points towards their promotion ambitions.
Midfielder Martin Foster struck early in the game to give Halifax the lead. Crawley midfielder John Robinson thought he had earned his side a share of the spoils when he popped up to level the scores in the second half.
But it was Midgley who conjured the equaliser with a well-taken penalty after Phil Smith had fouled Neil Ross.
The first half was a fiercely-contested affair with the referee booking five players.
The visitors had started the brighter and forced their opponents back straight from the kick-off.
Former Blackpool midfielder Steve Bushell nearly gave the Yorkshire outfit the lead direct form a corner kick, but alert defending from Sasha Opinel kept the score level.
However, it only momentarily averted the inevitable when Dean Howell sent a pinpoint cross over for Foster to score.
The Sussex outfit had a couple of opportunities to draw level. Simon Wormull fired a 25-yard strike that just missed the goal by inches. Crawley hot-shot Allan Tait nearly earned his side parity when he cleverly created some space for himself before blasting a long range shot wide.
But Halifax began to look increasingly dangerous on the break and Ryan Sugden could have been through on goal on a few occasions had he timed his runs better.
Sugden, though, nearly extended his side's lead with a fierce shot, which was well saved by the agile Smith.
But the Sussex team were level within a matter of minutes of the restart as Wormull found Robinson in the area with a precise free-kick for him to dispatch the ball home.
The goal seemed to spur on Crawley as they frantically pressed for a winner.
Howell and Steven Haslam appeared to have spurned the best opportunities to seal the win as they both missed gilt-edged chances.
But it was Midgley who was to have the final say as he converted the penalty after Smith had brought down substitute Ross.