Crawley proved a big point at Grays, even though they failed to take any in their fight to avoid the drop.

Reds boss John Hollins openly criticised his players in the wake of the FA Trophy embarrassment against Boreham Wood last week, accusing them of lacking fight and commitment.

Supporters who did not make the trip to Essex on Saturday will no doubt slam them again after a fourth straight league defeat left Reds bottom of the Conference.

But this time the players deserve commiserations, not condemnation, after a gutsy performance.

They showed they do possess all the qualities they were accused of not having against Boreham.

The team were organised, hard-working and played with an added determination that suggested they are up for the relegation dog-fight.

It left Hollins relatively upbeat.

He said: "I am happy with the troops, they gave me what I wanted. The supporters went home supporting and applauding the players, which was a good sign.

"We will get a lot of strength from this. Overall it was a better performance but I know the only thing people look at is the number of points we've got."

An unfortunate defeat continues a trend of heroic failures for Reds away from home.

Since Hollins took over in November they have produced the goods on the road but have not got what they deserved.

Impressive displays at Halifax and Woking should have yielded more than a point apiece and they completely dominated at Hereford but somehow managed to lose.

By contrast, Crawley have struggled to win and perform at home when they are forced to take the game to the visitors.

Even Hollins' solitary league success, a 3-0 home victory against Tamworth, was not convincing.

Crawley appear to enjoy being the underdog where, away from their fans, they can play without pressure.

And their counter-attacking approach on away-days seems to suit the players they have much better.

Hollins tried a new 4-5-1 formation against Grays, which converted to 4-3-3 when Reds attacked, and it gave them an unpredictable cutting edge.

Striker Daryl Clare, the lone man up front, was left fighting a losing battle when the ball was pumped up front but when it was played to him on the deck, Crawley piled on the pressure.

Captain Ian Simpemba was given a holding midfield role, which allowed the recalled Lee Blackburn and Paul Armstrong to get forward at every opportunity and Grays struggled to cope.

But Crawley could not make their superiority count and again paid the price.

The pivotal point came five minutes before half-time when Clare somehow failed to score.

He looked certain to give the visitors the lead when he was found by an unselfish pass from Tony Scully in yards of space on the penalty spot. But, thinking he had less time than he had, he scuffed a first-time side-footed effort and keeper Ashley Bayes saved with his feet. Crawley continued to threaten after that but there was always that nagging feeling their chance had passed.

And when half-time substitute Dennis Oli fired in the winner on 70 minutes, the momentum Reds had built vanished.

Oli had not scored a league goal since his brace against Crawley in Grays' 3-1 win at the Broadfield Stadium in September.

So there was a sense of inevitability that he would be the man to give the home side their first home league win since October, which moves them up to fourth.

Oli had already sent a header just wide when he pounced on a rare piece of sloppy defending.

Crawley failed to clear a cross from Micheal Kightly and let the ball drop on the edge of the six-yard box, where Oli smashed the ball past Phil Smith.

Hollins said: "The goal was very similar to the one we conceded at Hereford a few weeks ago. You tell them to deal with crosses like that but we didn't and they punished us.

"We tried a different way of working and playing and I think the boys took it on board. It was much better and overall we created quite a few chances.

"We had a lot of the play but we snatched at things when we needed a bit of control. Unfortunately, I can't tell Daryl Clare how to score goals.

"You want them to have a bit of composure but because it hasn't come for quite a while they snatch at it. But it will come."