Crawley plunged deeper into relegation trouble as they lost at home.
Reds went down 1-0 to Nathan Jones’ Charlton Athletic and are now nine points from safety with just ten games to play.
Having defied the odds to secure promotion in brilliant style via the play-offs last season, they are now seeing that League One status slip away amid unrest off the pitch.
Boss Rob Elliot admitted they were continuing to suffer by not producing more of a threat in the box.
The former Charlton and Newcastle goalkeeper said: “It was a disappointing goal to give away and at worse we should have come away with a 0-0 draw.
“It took a lot out of us to go up against one of the best physical teams, but I was pleased with the desire and everything the lads gave.”
Crawley were again without striker Tola Showunmi as he served the last of a three-game suspension and Elliot added: “We need to be more of a threat in the box.
“We need that big powerful man who can head it in or at least be enough of a nuisance.
“The physicality in the box we were always going to struggle with.
“Charlton are defensively the best team in the league and you can see why and the best from set pieces and I thought we dealt with it well, considering how big and powerful they are.”
Thierry Small’s near-post winner in the 37th minute was enough to see the Addicks move up to fourth in the table and they now boast 17 clean sheets in the league.
After claiming their their ninth win from the last 12 games, Jones said: “It was a very tricky game.
“Crawley is a difficult place to come and I would have taken any win tonight.
“We turned the ball over more than I would have liked to and we had enough chances to win by more than one goal.
“It was a great finish by Small at the near post and we are encouraging them to get in the box.
“I told him before the game I wanted him to score and everyone has dug in; it was a really good performance.”
Jones picked out the recalled Alex Gilbert for special praise and felt the whole squad played their part in the win.
He added: “Gilbert has final-third quality and it is about us using the squad. We haven’t started him for a while.”
