Crawley Town 2 Harrogate Town 2: Sulphurites miss chance to go second in League Two

Having seen their unbeaten start to the season come to an end at Port Vale at the weekend, the Sulphurites will be relieved to have avoided back-to-back defeats, though might feel that they ought to have left Sussex with maximum points.

They created enough clear chances to have won the game comfortably and also played the final half an hour of the contest with a one-man advantage following home substitute Ashley Nadesan's dismissal, but were unable to capitalise.

Given that they were missing the influential trio of Alex Pattison (concussion), Lewis Page (hamstring) and Jack Diamond (suspension), a point away from home is however nothing to be sniffed at.

One of the biggest positives is the way Town began the contest.

Having fallen behind in each of their previous three matches, Simon Weaver’s team got off to a flying start on this occasion.

With just two minutes gone, George Thomson delivered an outswinging corner from the right and Luke Armstong rose highest to head home his sixth goal of the season.

Very much in the ascendancy for the majority of the remainder of the first period, Harrogate had chances to extend their lead through Armstrong and Jack Muldoon, while Connor Hall's deflected strike drew a good save out of Glenn Morris.

And the visitors were made to pay for not making the most of their superiority as disaster struck in the lead-up to half-time.

First, Joel Lynch netted a 43rd-minute equaliser from a corner, then Sam Ashford finished off Tom Nichols’ cross to turn the game on its head and send Crawley into the interval with their noses somehow in front.

It did however take Town just six second-half minutes to get back on terms, Muldoon doing brilliantly to skin his man down the right and deliver a dangerous centre, which Archie Davies diverted into his own net under pressure from Kerry and Armstrong.

Nadesan was then sent off following an off-the-ball clash with Hall, who saw a goal-bound effort cleared off the line soon afterwards.

And it required another fine stop from Morris to deny Armstrong a stoppage-time winner, but the 10 men did managed hold on for a share of the spoils.

A draw moves Harrogate level on points with second-placed Leyton Orient, though they stay third on goal-difference.