Crawley 1 Salisbury 1.

Steve Evans insists Crawley will be genuine promotion contenders next season despite seeing his side's winless run stretch to seven matches.

Only a last-minute equaliser from Jon-Paul Pittman saved Reds from another defeat as a campaign which once promised so much continues to fizzle out.

With nothing left to play for but pride you can understand why Evans is already planning for next year but there was little evidence to back up his claim in a dismal performance against Salisbury.

Only after Andrew Sandell's long-range strike had given the visitors the lead with their first real attempt on goal did Crawley show any urgency and it looked like they would suffer their sixth defeat in seven matches until Pittman popped up.

But regardless of their current form the Reds boss is confident he already has the nucleus of a side capable of challenging for the play-offs after some minor tinkering in the summer.

Evans said: "We were never going to be ready to challenge this year but I am confident we will be competing for the play-offs next season.

"It is still a three-year plan to get in the Football League but I see no reason why we can't be genuine challengers for the play-offs in our second year here.

"I know the players I want to keep and have identified those I would like to bring in so unless something dramatically changes with the budget we are well ahead of schedule. There will be some changes over the summer but I want to keep largely the group of players I already have in place.

"We have got a young, vibrant team who have just suffered a bit of a dip in form. We didn't get carried when we were beating teams by eight and are not getting too down because of our current run.

"We are already looking ahead to next year but we have still got a huge amount to play for this season. We want to finish in the top half of the table and if we do it after having six points taken off that is a remarkable achievement.

"My first season at Boston we finished in mid-table and the next season we won the league so that shows what can be done."

Reds looked anything but being close to the finished article on Saturday as they followed up Tuesday's entertaining draw with Exeter with a thoroughly limp display.

Evans stuck with the 3-5-2 formation which had worked so well on that occasion but with one of his wing-backs, Jamie Cook, clearly not fully fit it left Reds totally unbalanced.

Not that the visitors were any better despite going into the match on a run of just one defeat in 13 games which has kept them in contention for the play-offs.

It took until five minutes before the break for either side to muster a shot on goal but when it came it was worth the wait, Dannie Bulman's fierce 25-yard drive forcing Ryan Clarke into a fine save.

Salisbury showed a bit more urgency after the restart but the turgid affair had nil-nil written all over it until substitute Sandell's bolt from the blue. The ball fell to him 30-yards from goal and he unleashed a fierce drive which flew past the startled Bayes and into the bottom corner.

It was not until Evans threw caution to the wind with ten minutes to go and pushed the impressive Glenn Wilson into a three-pronged attack that Crawley threatenend an equaliser.

Wilson's presence made the Salisbury defence uncomfortable for the first time all afternoon but it looked too little, too late when Bradley Thomas fluffed his shot from six yards with three minutes to go.

Neither side deserved to win on this showing though and justice was done in the final minute when Wilson's 20-yard shot took a wicked deflection and Pittman was alert to fire home after Salisbury keeper Ryan Clarke had failed to hold on.

Assistant boss Paul Raynor said: "We are not overly disappointed. I think we have perhaps spoiled the Crawley punters over the season as we have scored eights, fives and fours but it is not always going to be like that.

"Teams are going to come here and try to stifle us. Salisbury are very good at it so let's give them some credit but we never gave up and go our reward.

"It is not too doom and gloom. We have had three better performance so we are moving in the right direction and I am sure that elusive win is not too far away."

Crawley: Bayes, Thomas, Stevens, Murphy, Cook (Carayol, 45), Wilson, Bulman, James, Thompson (Dutton-Black, 86), Allen (Pinault, 70), Pittman. Subs not used: Shimmin, Knowles.

Salisbury: Ryan Clarke, Bass, Cook, Asafu-Adjaye, Robinson, Sinclair (Sandell, 53), Turk, Fowler, Bartlett, Feeney, Barnes (Tubbs, 72). Subs not used: Bond, Bittner, Darrell Clarke.

What did you make of Crawley's performance on Saturday?