Stockport boss Dave Challinor was unhappy with the decision to award Crawley the penalty which denied his side victory as the visitors were held to a 1-1 draw.
In-form midfielder Louie Barry put County on course for a fourth win in five league games with a cool finish after only six minutes.
But Crawley were awarded a 68th-minute penalty when Kyle Wootton was adjudged to have fouled Armando Quitirna and the substitute stepped to sent former Reds goalkeeper Corey Addai the wrong way from the spot.
Challinor said: “The referee has made the decision and, although I won’t say it has cost us the game, we had a similar appeal that was not given in our favour shortly before.”
County had their penalty appeal waved away by referee James Linington after Josh Flint’s challenge on Tayo Adaramola.
Challinor added: “It was very similar to the Crawley one.
“The referee has made the decision (to give Crawley a penalty), but the linesman was only 10 yards away.
“The referee has given one and not the other, but it won’t change the outcome and hopefully it will even out.”
Challinor warned his side at half-time not to give the ball away so much and he added: “We made it too easy in simple situations.
“I knew we’d have opportunities on the counter, but we need to do better with the ball.”
Crawley boss Scott Lindsey felt his young team deserved more against a Stockport side he expects to again challenge for promotion.
He said: “To go toe to toe and probably edge the game in my view – and I’m not being delusional about that – makes me very proud of my young players.
“I think we were the better team against a really good side with top players. I thought we were the only team trying to win it at the end.”
Lindsey, yet to settle on his best XI while working to “mould a winning formula” from his new group, felt his players were more aggressive in the final third after the break.
He added: “My only criticism was that we could have created more chances, certainly in the first half, but we certainly did that after the break.
“We played well and I was really pleased with the performance. I am happy with a point, but I’m greedy and think the display maybe deserved a little bit more.”
