Crawley boss Francis Vines today put a brave face on seeing his side denied their second away win in the Conference and declared: "That's the best we've played for four or five games."

Reds twice went ahead through Allan Tait's first goal of the season but were denied victory a minute into stoppage time when Chris Duffy fired Canvey's second equaliser past Phil Smith.

The real hero for the hosts, however, was goalkeeper Danny Potter, who produced two superb saves in each half and also thumped the long downfall clearance from which Ollie Berquez hit Canvey's first leveller.

Crawley had not picked up an away point since the opening day and Vines admitted: "We didn't finish them off so that was disappointing. After we scored the second we could have got a third or fourth but I think we played really well.

"We passed the ball well and it's probably the best we've played in four or five games so we are happy."

Potter's best saves came in the last ten minutes from two rasping right-footers from the influential Charlie Mapes, who impressed despite playing the full 90 minutes with flu.

Rob Traynor was guilty of an awful miss from inside the six yard box and was also singled out as the man who failed to track back and Mark Duffy when the Canvey man grabbed his side's point in the first of three added minutes.

Despite that, this was a generally pleasing night for a threadbare Crawley side, who hoped to have Paul Armstrong and Mo Harkin back to boost their numbers by the weekend.

Loan signing Jamie Day had an encouraging debut on the left of midfield and more recruits would appear to be likely.

It was a night for Crawley defenders, and the hardworking Fiston Manuella in front of them, to stand strong in the chill wind coming off the Thames estuary and repel a Canvey side desperate for their first home win of the season.

All the time they were winning the muscular battle, however, Reds could also allow them more attractive football to shine through and they were twice denied a breakthrough by Potter in the first 20 minutes.

First the home goalkeeper dived to his right to tip away a fierce drive from Mapes at the end of a surging run through midfield from the Crawley man.

Then Potter moved sharply to his left to deal with a powerful drive on the turn by Charlie MacDonald.

Potter did not need to excel midway through the half when MacDonald, sent clean through by Mapes' accurate pass, shot wastefully wide of the near post but that miss only delayed the first goal by three minutes.

MacDonald was again involved, his close range effort being blocked on the goal line for Tait to joyfully thump home the rebound.

Traynor also took credit for the goal, his hardwork winning the corner which Canvey, despite a couple of attempts, never managed to clear before Tait struck.

Dave McGhee, Berquez and Lee Boylan all fired over and Neil Jenkins cleared a Gavin Cowan header off the line as Crawley deservedly held their advantage until the interval.

The lead only lasted four minutes into the second half as the forceful Berquez ran on to a header down from Neil Gregory to thrash a right foot shot past Smith.

Crawley though rode out a rocky spell, in which Boylan lobbed against the bar, to go ahead again midway through the half.

This time MacDonald did the initial spade work by chasing a lost cause to win a free-kick on the left edge of the penalty area. Mapes drove the ball in low towards the near post where it was diverted home by Tait.

Reds will know they should have gone on to finish the job from there. Instead, Duffy denied them and then Smith was at full stretch to push away a Junior McDougald free-kick which threatened to bounce inside the post before Vines and his men could head home with their consolation prize of an away point.