Crawley staged a dramatic late comeback at Forest Green Rovers to ease the pressure on manager Francis Vines.

Vines' position looked in danger after five minutes when Rovers capitalised on defensive mistakes to go 2-0 up.

There has been growing unrest among some supporters with Crawley's miserable start to the season and some have even suggested changes need to be made.

But Reds earned a much-needed point thanks to two goals in the last seven minutes from Daryl Clare and Ben Judge to take them out of the Conference relegation zone.

Vines said: "After the first five minutes I thought somebody definitely does not like me. It was like someone was conspiring against me. So to see them come back was a big relief.

"We cannot keep making silly errors otherwise we will stay down the bottom.

"It is frustrating because we are so close to winning games comfortably. We are scoring goals but are letting too many in at the other end and it's got to change."

Reds' miserable start to the season looked to be going from bad to worse with just five minutes on the clock when they handed Rovers two goals.

Keeper Phil Smith was at fault for the first on two minutes when he ran out of his box to clear from close to the left corner flag and failed to get a clean connection on his kick.

It fell for Paul Wanless 45 yards from goal and the former Oxford striker did brilliantly to hook a first-time effort beyond Smith's desperate dive.

It was the second mistake by Smith in as many games after he had fumbled a free-kick in Saturday's 4-2 defeat at Accrington.

The second goal came moments later when leftback Sacha Opinel slipped over on the edge of the box while trying to control a pass.

Alex Meechan pounced and rounded Smith before slotting into an empty net.

Ironically, the early capitulation came after Crawley had lined up in a defensive 4-5-1 formation.

Captain Ian Simpemba started in the holding midfield role, with Chris Giles taking his place in central defence, while Clare was the lone man up front.

Reds also had a new face on the bench in former Arsenal trainee Michael Gordon, who signed on non-contract terms before kick-off after impressing on trial.

The visitors stuck to their new tactic until half time and went close to pulling one back on 11 minutes when Judge crossed deep from the right.

Lee Blackburn had a close range header blocked on the line and Jamie Cade scuffed the follow-up before Abdou Sall scrambled clear.

It almost got worse for Crawley two minutes before the interval following more poor defending by Opinel.

The Frenchman committed himself to a sliding clearance, which he missed, sending Meechan clear and his cross was met by Abbey, whose powerful header was tipped onto the crossbar by Smith.

Crawley improved after the break once Steve Burton had replaced Giles to partner Clare in attack.

The big striker headed inches over from a Paul Armstrong corner shortly after coming on and Clare then forced keeper Ryan Clarke into a low save with an angled drive.

Clare gave Crawley hope seven minutes from time when he scored his third goal in four games from the penalty spot after Burton had been brought down by Adam Garner.

Judge completed the dramatic comeback three minutes from time when he fired in from two yards after Opinel's cross had eluded home keeper Clarke.

Forest Green: Clarke, Sall, Richardson, Garner, Graham, Howell, Beswetherrick, Rendell, Meechan, Wanless (Rogers 46), Abbey.

Subs not used: Harrison, Teixeira, Haldane, Gosling.

Booked: Clarke (47) dissent.

Crawley: Smith, Judge, Woozley, Giles (Burton 46), Opinel, Lindegaard, Simpemba, Blackburn (Wormull 70), Armstrong, Cade, Clare.

Subs not used: Ward, Gordon, Donovan.

Booked: Opinel (11) foul, Woozley (86) foul, Judge (88) dissent, Cade (89) dissent, Burton (91) dissent.

Referee: M. Mullarkey.

Attendance: 916.

Man-of-the-match: Alex Meechan (Forest Green).