Careless Crawley were heading for their first home sefeat of the season after a first-half horror show against promoted Gateshead.
After a quiet opening period the visitors went ahead after 19 minutes when Reds failed to deal with Wayne Phillips' left-wing cross and Kris Gate, breaking late into the box, bundled the ball over the line from close range.
Reds were then stunned by the concession of two penalties in the space of as many minutes.
The assistant referee spotted Chris Giles' tug on the shirt of Michael Mackay and Martin Brittain tucked away the penalty.
Brittain then sent Simon Rayner the wrong way from the spot after Simon Rusk had unnecessarily pulled down Wayne Phillips.
Reds offered little in attack although Ben Smith and Caharles Ademeno were not far away with close-range headers.
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