Danny Webb says late equaliser by Crawley left Chesterfield ‘gutted’

Assistant manager Danny Webb admitted Chesterfield paid a heavy price for missing a string of chances after a last-gasp goal from Jay Williams salvaged a 1-1 draw for relegation-threatened Crawley at the Broadfield Stadium.

A first-half strike by Liam Mandeville put Chesterfield on course for a fourth win in six games to strengthen their play-off bid but Webb confessed Williams’ leveller had left them “gutted”.

Chesterfield remain in the play-off places in seventh but victory would have put them six points off third place.

Webb said: “We are well and truly gutted. It puts a dampener on the day and the weekend.

“At half-time we had enough chances to put the game to bed, we probably didn’t expect another four or five in the second half but if you don’t take your chances you leave yourself open to a sucker punch.

“You give Crawley oxygen and hope. You probably don’t deserve the win when you miss that many chances and the gaffer (Paul Cook) has been quite forceful with that view in the dressing room.”

Webb, who admitted his side were now “looking over their shoulder again” having dropped to seventh, added: “You go into fear mode with literally 10 seconds left.

“You can’t come away from home, regardless playing against a team battling relegation, and miss that many chances and expect it all to go your way.”

Crawley boss Scott Lindsey felt a much improved second-half performance was behind his side’s battling draw and was delighted to follow the midweek draw at MK Dons with another positive result.

Lindsey said: “We got what I think we deserved. We’ve taken two points in the last two games playing against promotion hopefuls.

“It was very even in the first-half, with Chesterfield possibly shading it, and I’m really proud of the players as we were by far the better team in the second half.”

Crawley – who avoided going five consecutive games without scoring for the first time in fifteen seasons in the football league – are two points above the drop zone.

Lindsey added: “I’m happy. It was a good point. Of course we wanted a win but we were really good in the second half and we were knocking the door down.

“It takes a second to score a goal but it can take 90 minutes to create it. It was a great goal when it came in the end.”