There were a number of moments in the encounter between Notts County and Crawley Town where it appeared an equaliser was certain for the visitors…
Thanks to Bartosz Bialkowski that was not the case, after the goalkeeper pulled off a number of wonder saves to hold on to the Magpies’ one-goal lead.
The first of two stand out stops followed his own mistake but he reached out to deny Matt Tubbs at close range, before his defence cleared the danger after a tense goal-mouth scramble.
The second was even better as the Pole appeared beaten by Gary Dicker’s forceful header but somehow reached back to claw over.
Bialkowski was delighted to play his part in a vital win that moved Notts within a point of the teams outside the bottom four.
“I was desperate for the clean sheet, especially after last Friday when I was at fault for the second goal,” he said.
“After that I wanted to go out and be a hero so I’m glad that we won the game.
“We knew it was going to be a difficult game for us because Crawley are a hard working team.
“I think we’re confident now and we’ve got to be, because we showed great character.
“We played under pressure for such a long time and we handled it really well.
“We’ve got two cup finals left and I’m sure we’ll be up for it.”
Notts face an even bigger game on Saturday afternoon against Swindon Town at Meadow Lane (3pm kick-off).
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