Gladwin rescues point for Crawley Town with 98th minute equaliser against Crewe

The Reds led at half-time through a Luke Offord own goal but two goals in ten minutes by Daniel Agyei, one from the spot, put the Railwaymen in charge.

But after Crewe had a man sent off, Gladwin – recently recruited from Swindon by Scott Lindsey – kept his cool to produce a fine finish deep into time added on.

The point leaves Crawley 21st – two points above the relegation zone.

The game struggled to spark into life with a few fouls either way and three yellow cards given in the opening 15 minutes. It was a Crewe Alexandra player who helped Crawley score the opener as Kellan Gordan got in behind and had his inviting cross was put into his own net by the Crewe captain Offord in the 19th minute.

Crewe struggled with their attacking in the first half as most of their attempts to get in behind the Crawley backline resulted in the offside flag going up. Crawley had the perfect chance to double their lead at the half hour mark as Tom Fellows’ cross just failed to reach Ashley Nadesan as the ball just scraped his studs and went wide, with the goal gaping.

Corey Addai made a superb save at the end of the first half to maintain Crawley’s lead going into half-time as he fantastically turned away an Elliot Nevitt shot from inside the six-yard-box.

Crewe came out a different side. After Crawley’s efforts at the end of the first half to stop the equaliser they couldn’t keep out Crewe’s forwards for long in the second half. Agyei scored his first of the game past Addai with a close-range shot finding the top corner in the 51st minute.

Crewe continued to pile on pressure on to the Crawley defence, which lead to Gordon fouling Callum Ainley and giving Crewe the chance to take the lead from the penalty spot. Agyei scored the spot kick, putting Scott Lindsey’s side behind with half an hour to go.

Crawley failed to build any momentum after Crewe’s second, as if the life had been sucked out of them, with the only real intensity coming from the home fans’ chants for the owners, WAGMI United, to leave the club.

But there were twists to come. Crewe had to finish the game with ten men as Sean Robertson was given his marching orders after getting a second yellow in the 85th minute.

The away side looked like they were going to walk away with all three points despite the sending off – before a last minute equaliser came from new captain Gladwin. He struck the ball low and in at Richards’ near post, earning a point for his side in a game they will look back on feeling lucky to have got something from.