Crawley paid the price for naivety at both ends of the pitch in a draw which showed they still have a bit to learn in the Conference.

Reds should have won by a rugby score against a Gravesend side who have not tasted victory in 12 league games but instead they were left ruing one lapse of concentration at the back and numerous blunders up front.

It took just two minutes for Reds to concede a goal which should never have been allowed to happen.

Craig McAllister, signed from Stevenage last week, out-muscled Reds captain Ian Simpemba to latch on to a lump over the top and chipped neatly over Phil Smith.

The misdemeanour did not appear to matter as Crawley responded by getting back on level terms just five minutes later, Neil Jenkins guiding in a superb header from a tight angle from Mo Harkin's cross.

The goal should have been the start of a rout. Reds ran riot for the rest of the first half but instead they squandered chance after chance to kill the visitors off.

Manager Francis Vines chose to reflect on the positives of his side's dominant performance but he knows they cannot afford too many similar displays if Crawley are to consolidate themselves as genuine play-off contenders.

He said: "The good thing was that we played well and had plenty of chances but we know we should have won it by a street.

"It is not often you have that many chances at this level, so you have to take them. It definitely was two points dropped but, hopefully, next time we will play like that and manage to put the chances away."

It was Dan Marney who was guilty of squandering the best opportunity when Reds were awarded a penalty just before half time, given for a handball by former Albion defender Paul McCarthy.

It would have been the perfect time for Reds to take the lead and, with Gravesend showing little attacking enterprise throughout the game, would have surely been the winner.

However, Marney scuffed his effort on to a post and Crawley failed to create another clear chance.

Vines admitted Marney should not have even taken the kick and instead should have left it to Harkin.

He said: "Even though he was big and brave to take it, in hindsight with the kind of time he was having in front of goal, he should have left it alone and let someone else take it.

"It's usually Mo Harkin who takes them, so once Danny had picked it up I couldn't believe he had let him have it."

Crawley's disappointing second half display was not helped by injuries to two key players.

Midfielder Simon Wormull was stretchered off just before half time after suffering a knee injury in a clash with Matt Lovell.

Leftback Sean Hankin was then left struggling for the remaining 20 minutes after hurting a knee but could not be replaced because Reds had already used all their substitutes.

Vines said: "Once Simon went off I felt the quality died and we started to rush things. We are hoping he has just jarred the knee and he won't be out for too long because he is an important player for us.

"When Sean went down I told him was not coming off because we needed 11 men on the field. There was no way we were going to lose the game after dominating it, so even if his leg had dropped off, I still would have made him play on."

Vines defended his decision not to include Charlie Mapes among the substitutes.

The midfielder would have been the perfect replacement for Wormull and given Reds the creative influence they lacked in the second half.

He said: "It is easy to say Charlie Mapes should have been on the bench in hindsight but I didn't know Simon was going to get injured.

"If I had picked Mapes and Armstrong had got injured, then people would have said I should have put Rob Kember on the bench.

"You cannot tell but Charlie would have been the better player to replace Simon when he came off."

The injuries could not have come at a worse time. Reds face two games in five days, starting with a trip to Forest Green tomorrow, and have just let Rob Traynor and Kevin Hemsley go out on month-long loans to Weymouth and Sutton respectively.

Vines said: "It is just my luck that I let two players go and then get two injuries but that's the way it goes.

"It will mean I'm down to my bare bones against Forest Green but we have enough quality players for it not to matter too much."

Crawley: Smith 7, Judge 8, Dolan 6, Simpemba 7, Hankin 6, Jenkins 7, Armstrong 7, Wormull 7 (Kember 48, 7), Harkin 8, Marney 6 (MacDonald 6, 66), Davidson 7 (Tait 6, 66). Subs not used: Little, Palmer.

Gravesend: Pullen, Gledhill (Protheroe 59), McCarthy, Moore, Lovell, Drury, Saunders, McKimm, Jackson, Omoyinmi (Essandoh 59), McAllister. Subs not used: Wilkerson, Popovic, Sidibe.