Frustration as Crawley are held to a goalless draw (From The Argus)

Frustration as Crawley are held to a goalless draw

4:54pm Saturday 9th March 2013 in Sport By Steve Hollis

Jake Taylor in the action against Notts County

Crawley suffered more frustration at the Broadfield Stadium as they were held to a fourth draw in their last five home matches by Notts County.

Reds created the better chances but were unable to make the breakthrough as they recorded a first goalless draw at home since March 2009.

It means Richie Barker's men have now picked up just ten points from their last 12 games on their own patch to further undermine their hopes of making a late push for the play-offs.

Goalkeeper Bartosz Bialkowski was the hero for County, making fine saves from Jamie Proctor and Matt Sparrow in the first half, while Gary Liddle did superbly to turn a cross from Mustapha Dumbuya over the bar when Mike Jones looked sure to score in the second period.

Crawley had named an unchanged team for the third game in a row with top scorer Billy Clarke still not recovered from a hamstring injury.

Reds made a decent start with Jamie Proctor testing Bartosz Bialkwoski with a curling shot from 25 yards after ten minutes.

Crawley had a penalty appeal for handball against Jacob Blyth turned down by referee Graham Salisbury as the home side continued to pose the greater threat.

Bialkowski made a comfortable save from a Jake Taylor header but then had to be at his best to race off his line and block an effort by Matt Sparrow as he raced on to a fine ball from Taylor.

Joe Walsh also flashed a shot wide of a post on a rare foray forward while Paul Jones was only called into action once in the first half, bundling a 25 yard shot from Jeff Hughes around a post.

Reds continued to look the more likely of the two teams to break the deadlock in the second half.

Nicky Adams should have done better when the ball fell to him inside the area after a good run by Mike Jones but his weak effort was comfortably saved.

Crawley went even closer in the 65th minute when a superb cross from Mustapha Dumbuya was diverted over the bar by Gary Liddle from a couple of yards with Mike Jones poised to score.

A couple of minutes later young defender Haydn Hollis turned the ball onto his own bar as he attempted to clear a low cross from Proctor.

County had shown little going forward but Reds goalkeeper Paul Jones had to be alert to keep out a low drive from substitute Enoch Showumni at his near post.

The frustration of the home fans grew as Proctor reacted too slowly to get his shot off after the ball fell to him 12 yards out while substitute Lateef Elford-Alliyu blasted well over from the edge of the area.