Crawley held by Shrewsbury

Crawley Town earned a point against Shrewsbury thanks to a 64^th minute equaliser from Andy Drury but the home side could have won the game had Chris Weale not saved Billy Clarke’s penalty early in the game.

Andy Drury

Shrewsbury defender Darren Jones was the villain after bringing Nicky Adams down in the box. Billy Clarke stepped up but Salop goalkeeper Chris Weale denied him the chance to give Crawley the lead leaping superbly to his left.

However, it was Shrewsbury who had the first chance to score when, inside the first 10 minutes, Jon Taylor struck powerfully from 25 yards forcing goalkeeper Paul Jones to parry in to the path of Tom Bradshaw, who couldn’t quite position himself quickly enough to make a clean connection, and his short range effort went wide of the post.

Crawley’s first chance of the afternoon came just after the 15 minute mark when Connor Goldson managed to block Billy Clarke’s effort on target after some impressive play from Adams on the left.

The home side should have really been in front as Proctor’s clever lay-off sent Adams free on the right hand side but his shot, despite being a powerful one, went wide of the post by a yard.

Luke Summerfield almost grabbed his first goal of the season with a well executed 25 yard drive that went just wide.

It looked as though Clarke, and Crawley, would rue that missed penalty when Aaron Wildig put the visitors 1-0 up just two minutes in to the second half. Ryan Woods, who has hugely impressed in recent weeks, supplied the cross for Wildig to volley from 15 yards out.

Crawley did pull level though and, after applying so much pressure on their opponents, this was a thoroughly deserved goal. Andy Drury equalised after Jamie Proctor flicked on a testing delivery from Adams.

The game suddenly became increasingly competitive in the aftermath of Crawley’s equaliser.

Shrewsbury’s best opportunity to regain the lead came from on loan Middlesbrough striker Curtis Main. Paul Parry delivered a cross from the right hand side and Main failed to aim his header on target.

Then, with eight minutes to go, Graham Turner’s side had their own appeal for a penalty after Tom Bradshaw went down in the area only for match official Ward to ignore the protests.

It’s fair to say that Crawley finished the game in a stronger position but Shrewsbury’s resilience proved to be successful as they extended their impressive unbeaten run to four games.

After the match, Shrewsbury manager Graham Turner said "I think I have mixed feelings. It was a hard game - we had to defend well in the second half. We don't have that winning mentality at the moment.
 

"We dropped deeper and created our own problems in the second half. Even though we created chances late on - but we couldn't put one away.”

Crawley boss Richie Barker said “We created better chances in the second half, but our final ball in the final third let us down.

"We've got players who've got quality in the final third, and unfortunately it just vacated them today.”

The draw with Crawley puts Shrewsbury in 13^th place and they take on Bristol City at Ashton Gate tonight before hosting Wolverhampton Wanderers on Saturday in what is an eagerly anticipated fixture for supporters and players.