Joe Dolan today claimed Crawley would have beaten York if his controversial disallowed goal had been given.

The big defender, who has agreed to extend his loan deal from Millwall to a third month, thought he had equalised for Reds five minutes before half-time, less than 60 seconds after the home side had broken the deadlock through Lee Grant.

His glancing header from a Simon Wormull free-kick looked legitimate as he stooped to beat York defender Chris Brass to the ball but referee Andy Page ruled it out for a push on the City captain.

Dolan was furious with the decision and, having been booked for his protests, continued his argument as the players left the pitch at half-time.

Dan Marney eventually put Reds level eight minutes after the break, before goals from Paul Robinson and Andy Bishop won it for York but Dolan insists the outcome would have been different had his effort stood.

He said: "I didn't think there was anything wrong with it. The ref said I pushed him but I never got close enough to push him. I got across him and won the header and he (Page) said it was a foul.

"Had that gone in, it would have been a completely different game and I'm sure we would have won.

"You don't mind getting beaten by a better team but they were not better than us and it was a game we should not have lost."

Although it is impossible to predict what the outcome would have been had the goal stood, Dolan does have a point.

It would have been the perfect time to score as it would have cancelled out Grant's headed goal from a Kevin Donovan free-kick immediately and given Crawley the psychological edge going into the interval.

York's fragile confidence, after just one win from their previous ten league games and just three at home all season prior to the game, could have crumbled.

Instead, Reds were left aggrieved after dominating the first half with some of their best football on the road this season.

Their frustrations were made worse when Allan Tait had another goal chalked off on the stroke of half-time for offside, although that decision looked more clean cut.

Manager Francis Vines said: "Joe's goal looked like a perfectly good one to me. He got beside the guy, rather than behind him or above him.

"With the offside, from where we were standing I couldn't tell but the substitutes who were warming up along the sidelines said Tait came from behind and it was a perfectly good goal.

"But offside decisions happen and I'm sure throughout the season things like that will happen for us. Joe's goal, on the other hand, I would question."

Vines, however, refused to blame Crawley's second defeat in three games on the referee's decisions.

It was the individual errors that angered him most, especially after Crawley had done so well to get back into the game.

Marney took just six minutes of the second half to race on to a clever through ball by Wormull and poke a sliding effort past onrushing keeper David Stockdale.

York poured forward after the equaliser but did not create any clear chances until the 67th minute when Ryan Palmer, playing at leftback in place of flu victim Sean Hankin, lost possession to Robinson on the right wing. The on-loan striker, signed from Tranmere just days before the game, capitalised with a wonder strike, curling a 25-yard shot over Phil Smith and into the top corner.

Palmer was taken off soon after the goal for midfielder Charlie Mapes but it was a mistake from his replacement that allowed York to kill off Reds ten minutes from time.

Mapes gave the ball away cheaply in midfield and, despite his best efforts to retrieve it, Darren Dunning went on to cross for Bishop to head home from close range.

Vines said: "This was a winable game and it is so disappointing that two individual errors have cost us two goals.

"We were on top in the second half and looked in total control and then Patsy (Ryan) Palmer made a complete hash of it down at the corner flag and the guy scored a world-class goal.

"We then gave them another which finished us off but it should not have come to that. I wanted maximum points and I believe with the way we played we should have got them."

Consolation for Vines was that Accrington Stanley also lost, leaving Reds just one point off the play-off places.

Vines added: "We haven't lost any ground. We just have to make sure we get maximum points out of the three games over Christmas."

York: Stockdale, Merris, Donovan, Brass, Groves, Dunning, Davies, Bishop, Smith, Robinson (Yalcin, 87), Grant. Subs not used: Porter, Law, Stewart, Webster.

Crawley: Smith 8, Judge 5, Simpemba 6, Dolan 6, Palmer 5 (Mapes 6, 74), Jenkins 6 (Kember 6, 62), Wormull 7, Armstrong 6, Harkin 7, Marney 8, Tait 6 (MacDonald 6, 68). Subs not used: Little, Davidson.