Crawley assistant boss Paul Raynor admitted his side were below par in Wednesday's 1-1 draw with Morecambe at the Broadfield Stadium.
Crawley went behind in the League Two clash to a 21st-minute strike from Andrew Fleming before substitute Scott Neilson levelled three minutes after the break.
Steve Evans' team piled on the pressure in the second half but could not conjure up a winner as keeper Barry Roche produced some important saves.
Raynor said: "We'll have to take this one on the chin. We were slightly disappointing in the first half when we didn't move the ball quickly enough and into wide areas.
"But once we corrected those areas and brought on the substitutes, we improved and created numerous opportunities. Unfortunately we could not find a way through. We pressed very hard and our keeper, Rene Gilmartin, had virtually nothing to do in the second half.
"There was a chance for us to get into the top four so we wanted these three points. But that's the way it goes."