Crawley boss Scott Lindsey called on his play-off-chasing side to “show their teeth” after describing their 2-0 home defeat by Doncaster as “a big missed opportunity”.
The Red Devils slipped from seventh to ninth after goals from Hakeeb Adelakun and substitute Max Biamou gave 10-man Rovers their fourth successive win.
Rovers battled for the last 24 minutes with a man less after defender Tom Anderson received a straight red card for bringing down the on-rushing Danilo Orsi.
Lindsey felt the game, before a bumper crowd of 5,336, was an ideal opportunity to claim a seventh win in nine matches but was far from happy with the manner of the performance.
He said: “It was a big opportunity, but we showed not enough conviction and were fluffy and not aggressive enough at the top of the pitch.
“We were too nice and didn’t take our opportunity to nail our position.
“No disrespect to Doncaster, but I feel given the season we’ve had, if we are serious about being in the play-offs, we have to win.
“The first goal was a very poor one to give away and now we’ve just to show our teeth. I told the players afterwards that they have been lucky in the way other results have fallen.”
Delighted Rovers boss Grant McCann described Adelakun’s opening goal as one of the best they have scored this season.
He said: “The goal is right up there in a list of goals we have scored this season – it’s a bit of magic.”
Winger Adelakun, on loan from Lincoln, scored his sixth goal for Rovers from an acute angle.
McCann added: “To be honest we were waiting for a free-kick because (Will) Wright had hold of him, trying to pull him back, but then Ade just let it go.”
McCann felt his team should have won more convincingly, saying: “I think we played well against a very good Crawley side.
“We’re delighted with this run we’re putting together and we’ve got another big test on Tuesday at home to Wrexham.”
McCann was relieved when Biamou settled the issue in added time after goalkeeper Corey Addai had an attempted clearance charged down.
“I began to feel sorry for Max and George (Broadbent) as I don’t know how we missed open goals like that,” said McCann.
“What I’m pleased about is that we only really allowed them one opening when (Klaidi) Lolos got right through and left us very short at the back.”
Man United could be without Toone until new year, says Skinner
Marc Skinner revealed that Manchester United could be without midfielder Ella Toone until the new year after she picked up a calf injury in training.
Toone has featured in five games in the Women's Super League this season, but is yet to register a goal or an assist so far this term.
The 25-year-old has missed United's last two games and was not selected in Sarina Wiegman's England squad for their upcoming friendlies against the United States and Switzerland.
She had previously appeared in a staggering 96 straight matches before missing United's WSL showdown with Leicester City last weekend.
But ahead of the Red Devils' meeting with league leaders Chelsea on Sunday, Skinner confirmed they would be without Toone for not only that game, but for the foreseeable future.
"We have three games [after the international break and before Christmas]. There's always the hope, but I think you balance and you go, 'right, if we can get her back, we get her back'," Skinner said.
"But we're just not going to rush her in this moment because it's a calf injury, it's your running mechanism. If we injure the running mechanism, it takes longer.
"So ideally we'd like her back for those games afterwards.
"The projection is she misses this game [Chelsea], she misses the international window, probably misses the first game after that, and then we'll see from there.
"But because it is such a short block of only three games, we'll assess whether it's worth that or actually resetting to come back after Christmas."
Al-Nassr 1-2 Al-Qadsiah: Aubameyang winner ends hosts' unbeaten run
Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang hit the winner as Al-Qadsiah inflicted a 2-1 defeat on Al-Nassr in the Saudi Pro League on Friday to end their 21-match unbeaten run.
Cristiano Ronaldo's seventh league goal of the season put Al-Nassr ahead, but Al-Qadsiah replied swiftly through Julian Quinones before Aubameyang struck the decisive blow.
The hosts drew first blood in the 32nd minute when Ronaldo slotted home after Al-Qadsiah goalkeeper Koen Casteels had spilled a routine catch from Talisca's cross.
However, Al-Nassr's joy was short-lived when Quinones brought down Turki Al Ammar's delivery five minutes later, with the Mexcio winger firing past Bento to level the scores.
Quinones also played a part in the winning goal after brilliantly turning the ball back across goal from Nahitan Nandez's search pass to tee up a simple finish for Aubameyang.
The result sees Al-Qadsiah move level on 22 points with third-placed Al-Nassr, with Al-Shabab also level with them.
Stefano Pioli's Al-Nassr are six points adrift of defending champions and leaders Al-Hilal, who also have a game in hand.
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