Crawley claim Codicote FA Cup win to book Dunstable Town tie

Crawley Green scored two late goals to secure a dramatic 3-1 win over Codicote in their FA Cup Extra Preliminary Round Replay on Wednesday night to set up a local derby against Dunstable Town in the next round.

In a lively opening Hayden Wills had a shot saved by Billy Barnes in the Codicote goal.

Codicote responded with an effort from Paul Garrett and after four minutes they took the lead when a crossfield pass found Garrett on the left and he cut in to drive the ball past Bart Pedrycz.

Crawley almost drew level five minutes later, but Richard Pringle’s cross was deflected away from the onrushing Chris Gibson by Barnes

As Crawley pushed forward for the equaliser they were denied a penalty after 25 minutes when Gibson was felled in the box. The Referee waved play on and Peter O’Donnell saw effort saved by Barnes.

On the half-hour Pedrycz tipped over Liam Errington’s effort and minutes later saved well from Craig Arnott.

The ebb and flow of the game continued in the second half as O’Donnell had another effort saved by Barnes and Codicote replied with a Garrett free-kick which flew just over the bar.

Gibson came more into the game and had a shot saved by Barnes before Crawley levelled on the hour

Chris Harvey’s long throw caused a scramble in the area and Nick Nolan was on hand to drive the ball home.

A minute later Mark Smith fired an effort over the bar and then Wills had a shot go just wide.

With extra-time looming the game took a dramatic twist.

Codicote’s Jahmall Mullings burst through two tackles and clear on goal with two minutes left but fired wide with Codicote’s two leading scorers to his left.

And they were made to pay when Gibson fired home John Butler’s cross in the last minute.

In added time Codicote poured forward looking for an equaliser as Bart was forced to punch clear from a corner.

In the dying minutes the referee seemed to blow for time, but in fact had given a foul against Crawley and John Butler raced through to curl a peach of an effort into the top right hand corner.

The Maroons now host Dunstable Town in the Preliminary Round at Sharpenhoe Road on Friday, August 30, kick-off 7.45pm.