PHIL Brown admitted some of Town's older heads had to take the blame as his nine-man side were denied three League Two points by an injury-time penalty in a remarkable 2-2 draw at Crawley Town tonight

Town surrendered a comfortable two-goal half-time lead give to them by James Dunne and Keshi Anderson as both Toumani Diagouraga and Dunne were shown straight red cards following a pair of late tackles in midfield early in the second period.

While Town held on for 40 minutes with two less men on the field, a sloppy challenge by Marc Richards in the penalty area during the seventh minute of injury time handed the hosts a penalty they converted to cost the visitors what would have been a heroic victory.

Brown was understandably frustrated by his side’s poor second-half discipline, which effectively cost his side a third league win of the season.

The fuming manager pinpointed errors from three of his senior professionals and insisted that his younger players must not follow in their footsteps when under heavy pressure.

Crucially, Crawley’s second goal followed the sending off of Crawley substitute Josh Payne, who committed a late tackle on Steven Alzate while sprinted with the ball in the direction of the home side’s net.

While the resulting free-kick hit the crossbar, the home side’s heads soon picked up – earning them a league point.

“I’m trying to turn a group of players around, they’re good players,” said Brown.

“I’m really enjoying trying to improve them, but the ill-discipline has cost us dearly. Yet it was the discipline in the group that got us in front.

“I want that type of discipline for the full 90 minutes.

“One of my senior pros that I can trust with my life was the one that let us down in the end.

“Three senior pros have let us down tonight, and for the young lads watching they can see how frustrating it is to turn things around.

“I train and back four and a midfield three on a daily basis, we can keep clean sheets – but we’ve let ourselves down with a penalty in the 97th minutes. It’s unforgivable.”

Brown, who remains in the hunt for defensive reinforcements, added: "I know a good defender when I see one, because when you come out of a battle like that and win 2-1 it’s a mark in your career.

“It’s a great scar to have – but we haven’t got that. And that’s down to three seniors that have let us down.

“The likes of Sid Nelson, Kyle Knoyle, Lawrence Vigouroux should have remembered tonight for the rest of their careers, now they will only remember what I told them afterwards.

“This loan window closes in two weeks’ time, and if I’ve got to move one or two out to get one or two in then so be it.

“That’s not me threatening them, that’s me wanting to get the job right.”