Angry Carlisle United manager Keith Curle admitted his team’s defending was not good enough in their 3-3 draw at Crawley.

The Blues were 2-0 down inside the first 25 minutes, before Curle’s side fought back to take the lead after goals from Jabo Ibehre, Jamie Proctor and Reggie Lambe.

But out-of-form United conceded a stoppage-time equaliser when Crawley captain Jimmy Smith found the bottom corner of Mark Gillespie’s net.

Another three goals added to the tally means Carlisle have now conceded 65 goals from 44 league fixtures this season – only six teams in League Two, all in the bottom 10, have let in more.

Reflecting on the draw, Curle said: “There are probably women, children and fragile supporters reading this – so I don’t think I can give you the reply I would like to give you.

“But I’m angry and I’m frustrated. We can’t have to score four goals away from home to win a game of football.”

Having fallen two goals behind to strikes from Crawley’s top scorer James Collins, the first a brilliant long-range effort, and the second, a Collins penalty after referee Darren Deadman had adjudged the striker to have been fouled by Carlisle keeper Gillespie, the Blues fought their way back to go in level at the break.

The comeback appeared to have given the Cumbrians confidence and they looked the better team after the restart, with Lambe completing the turnaround, before Smith’s late leveller saw United drop two points.

Carlisle remain a point outside the League Two play-off places although, due to their inferior goal difference, they will have to win both of their remaining two games and rely on other results to go their way.

Curle added: “We need a twist now. We need to win at home next Saturday [to Newport] and then we need to go to Exeter and win.

“It’s dead simple.”

Despite the form that has seen United slip from second at the start of the year, Curle refused to give up on his side’s stuttering challenge to get back into the top seven.

“Before this game, you probably would have said we needed two wins and a draw [from the last three games],” he said.

“We have got the draw, so now we need two wins.

“From the last three games, you would probably say we should be sat with another six points and we should be comfortable where we have aspirations to be [in the play-offs].

“There is a level of frustration because we have given silly free-kicks away and lost football discipline, which gives them opportunities to put balls into our box.

“Apart from that, I think they had a speculative shot in the first half which gave them the lead, a penalty after poor defending and, at the end, a free-kick where they have got runners off our markers.

“They haven’t been able to break us down.

“We gave them the opportunity to put dangerous balls into our box by giving silly, indisciplined free-kicks away where balls are going to get punted into our box.”