Exeter City produced a stunning fightback from 4-1 down to snatch a late point at home to Crawley Town – but manager Gary Caldwell felt it should have been all three.

The Grecians looked down and out after a miserable first half at St James Park when they went in 4-1 behind, but despite the scoreline and performance, there was belief the game was not over – and so it proved.

Panutche Camara had fired the visitors in front, but after Exeter equalised through Millenic Alli, three goals in eight minutes from Will Swann, Tola Showunmi and Armando Quitrina had the Red Devils 4-1 up at half-time. But Exeter laid siege to the Crawley goal after the break and they managed to snatch a point.

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Firstly Vincent Harper curled in a stunning strike, then Ryan Woods scored straight from a corner. Exeter had countless chances before in stoppage-time, Demetri Mitchell scored a screamer from distance to make it 4-4.

"The first half wasn't good enough," Caldwell said. "I picked the wrong team, I have to take responsibility for that, but players have to take responsibility for their running and their performance.

“We conceded really bad goals, were too easy to play against and we gave ourselves an absolute mountain to climb at half-time. But all credit to the players, they climbed that mountain and we could have won the game. The energy we played with, the Big Bank sucking the ball into the net and we have to take that momentum into Wycombe but that first half was nowhere near good enough.

"It's a busy period of games but I picked the wrong team based on the performance maybe too many changes and our connections and links within the team weren't right. We conceded goals we won't concede very often, goals we won’t concede very often, but our performance led to those goals.

"We needed to do something drastic but were calm at half-time and changed the shape to a 4-4-2 and I said to the players it was down to them. We were relentless in that second half, we created so many chances, and that was down to the players and energy and bravery and we kept going.

“We fully deserved the draw, possibly deserved the win with the chances we created. I said to the players at half-time that the next goal was really big because it creates momentum. We knew Crawley would be vulnerable because you don’t know what to do and they wouldn't know whether to attack or sit off and the way we attacked it was relentless, a real siege on their goal, and we could have scored more."

Following the 3-1 win over Bristol Rovers on Boxing Day, Caldwell made four changes to the Exeter City side. In came Jake Richards and Kamari Doyle, both of whom made an impact off the bench, while Jay Bird started upfront. Tristan Crama also returned from injury.

In the 15 ^th minute, Crawley took the lead, and it had sort of been coming. Again Quitirna was allowed to drive forward without any real challenge. The ball in the penalty area broke to Camara, and getting it out from under his feet, he poked home.

In the 35 ^th minute, and with what was the first shot of the game for the Grecians, they drew level. Harper set Alli free down the left and he drove forward and cut inside, shot from 25 yards, with his effort sneaking into to bottom corner.

Less than 90 seconds later though, Rob Elliot’s men restored the lead. Dion Conroy clipped a long ball forward and Swan beat the offside trap. The striker rounded Joe Whitworth and despite Jack Fitzwater’s despairing attempt to keep it out on the line, the finish went through the defender to put Crawley 2-1 up.

Just before half-time it was 3-1, and a shocking goal to concede. Whitworth went to throw the ball out, but the goalkeeper dropped it and landed straight at the feet of Showunmi. The striker had the easiest of finishes to roll the ball into the empty net to send the away fans wild.

It got better for them in first half stoppage time as worse for City. Quitirna agai allowed to run forward, and his low shot from the edge of box squeezed past Whitworth and ended up in the bottom corner. It was a half to forget for Exeter who were booed off at the break.

Caldwell made a triple half-time substitution. Magennis, Mitchell and Watts came on for Fitzwater, Doyle and Ilmari Niskanen. And on the hour, the goal which had been coming, did. Mitchell found Harper, he cut inside, and curled a beautiful finish into the top corner to make it 4-2.

It was chance after chance from then on for City, as Alli, Mitchell and Magennis all saw efforts saved. Pat Jones came on his City debut as everything was thrown at it, and in the 81 ^st minute, the deficit was just one. Woods’ corner was teasing and evaded everyone as it flew into the back of the net as the referee waved away the appeals from Crawley’s players for a foul on Wollacott.

Crama missed a glorious chance to make it 4-4 when he headed wide, Magennis fired into side netting, and in stoppage-time Mitchell saw a header brilliantly saved. But in the third added-on minutes, it was 4-4. Jones found Mitchell, he cut inside and found the far corner with a stunning strike. The Big Bank went wild and Exeter snatched a point.

“The finishes were top top quality and we showed that bravery and commitment to attack,” Caldwell said. “We created so many chances, the stadium stayed positive, and we had an amazing second half. I still think it is two points dropped and a game we should have won but have momentum to take into Wycombe. We could have won the game but delighted with the reaction and to get a point.”