Penrith are to appeal the red card for goalkeeper Aaran Taylor in Saturday’s 2-1 defeat at Crook Town.
The Cumbrians were ahead and Taylor’s dismissal after 62 minutes changed the complexion of the game with striker and goal-scorer Jonny Murray taking over in goal.
Murray was beaten by Craig Moody after 67 minutes and Kai Hewitson 10 minutes later, and Penrith also had to play with nine men for the last eight minutes after having a player sin-binned.
Manager Darren Edmondson said: “I feel sure that if Aaran had stayed on we would have seen it through because we had limited them to one chance before then.
“It definitely changed the game and with no second keeper our goal-scorer had to go in between the posts.
“It was especially disappointing because if we had seen it through, or even been limited to a point it would have meant us getting points from four successive away games.
“We are in a dog-fight to survive but we are showing the right sort of approach, which was particularly noticeable in mid-week when we took a strong squad to Thornaby and won 2-1.
“Thornaby are down the bottom but are big and physical and fighting for their lives. They had a good 3-0 win at Carlisle City on Saturday so for us to take the points was a great effort.”
Murray had given Penrith the lead at Crook three minutes before half-time but spent the last half an hour of the game in goal.
In the win at Thornaby Murray had opened the scoring on five minutes with Robbie Hebson notching the second just after half-time. Thornaby reduced the arrears on 64 minutes, after earlier missing a penalty, and then they had Phil Caley sent-off nine minutes from the end.
There’s another key game in prospect for Penrith on Saturday when they host Pickering Town who are two places and a point better off than the Cumbrians, but from two more games.
