Boss Dean Saunders admitted football was a “cruel game” after Crawley Town were relegated to League One.
Reds needed to win their final day clash with Coventry City to guarantee survival but went down 2-1 in front of a record crowd at the Checkatrade.com Stadium.
Matthias Pogba had given Crawley the lead in the 49th minute after Brian Jensen had saved Nick Proschwitz’s penalty just before half-time.
Marcus Tudgay equalised with 17 minutes to go and with other results going against Crawley it meant a draw would not have been enough to stay up.
Reds pushed everyone forward in search of a late winner but a slip by Darren Ward saw James Maddison hammer the nail in Crawley’s coffin in injury time.
Saunders said: “Everyone is devastated. We came so close and I am absolutely gutted we just couldn’t get over the line.
“It’s a cruel game. Last week at Peterborough was one of the biggest slaps in the face I’ve ever had and today was another one.
“We were 1-0 up and in control. Izale (McLeod) had a chance to make it 2-0 and those are the fine lines between success and failure.
“After they scored we threw bodies forward to try to get the goal we needed because we knew a draw was not good enough and they caught us on the counter.”
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