Notts County boss Neal Ardley admitted Ben Barclay’s sending off against Crawley “killed” their chances of securing a much-needed win as their Football League status continues to hang by a thread.
The Magpies had to settle for a 1-1 draw at the Checkatrade Stadium where they had taken the lead through Craig Mackail-Smith’s fine header after just eight minutes.
Ashley Nathaniel-George then equalised for the hosts but as Notts looked for a crucial second goal after the break, Barclay saw red eight minutes into the restart for a challenge on Dannie Bulman.
Despite being a man down, Notts fought hard to claim a point but they must beat Grimsby at the weekend to have any chance of avoiding non-league football next season.
“In the first half they had one shot on goal and we were the better team,” he said.
“But the sending off killed us. Everything we said at half-time went out of the window.
“It was hard to press them after that, but even then they created little.
“You can’t chase the game with 10 men and if we had gone 2-1 down that would have been the case.
“We just had to play for those moments where we could try to nick the game.”
