Crawley Town boss Kevin Betsy insists his side were denied ‘clear, clear penalty’ during Harrogate Town stalemate

With the contest deep into six minutes of stoppage-time, Sulphurites skipper Warren Burrell and fellow centre-half Miles Welch-Hayes converged on visiting attacker James Balagizi inside the home box.

The stretching Burrell appeared at first glance to have played the ball, and referee Tom Neild saw nothing wrong with the challenge.

But Betsy felt that the man in the middle got that potentially game-changing decision wrong.

“We could have come away with a win,” the Crawley chief reflected.

"I think he [Balagizi] got caught. I think the referee had a good game, but I think that was a mistake, I think that was a clear, clear penalty.

"And [James] Tilley’s header that hit the bar was a really good chance, and there were a couple of others as well.

"In terms of the quality of chances that we had, we hit the bar, James had a really good chance that we could have scored and then we end up going back on the bus with three points.

"We’re really pleased with the clean-sheet, but not so much the point because we wanted more. That’s the level of expectation of the group, but we’ll take it and move on.”

Disappointed though he was not to have been awarded that late spot-kick, Betsy did however pay Simon Weaver’s Harrogate a compliment after the final whistle.

"It’s a tough place to come away from home,” he added.

"They won their last home game in the league 3-0 against Swindon, so to come away with a point is still a good result.”

Town boss Weaver felt that his own side played well enough to have won the game, but admitted that he was left frustrated by the lack of a “finishing touch”.

Indeed, just a few minutes before Crawley’s penalty shout, Luke Armstrong had played Jack Muldoon clean through on goal, though the Harrogate substitute was unable to stick away the hosts’ best opportunity of the afternoon.

"That is the kind of chance that he normally laps up, but on this occasion he didn’t,” Weaver said.

"It would have been very rewarding in a game where we kept probing, kept trying to play.”