Lee Bell admitted he was relieved to take a point from the clash with Accrington Stanley at Mornflake Stadium.
The Railwaymen led 2-1 at the break thanks to strikes from Aaron Rowe and Mickey Demetriou.
But they trailed 3-2 deep into injury time, after skipper Luke Offord had seen red.
However, Crewe’s fighting spirit shone through again and Elliot Nevitt’s magnificent strike made it 3-3 in the 98th minute.
Manager Bell said: “We were relieved in the end to get a point out of the game, after being 3-2 down.
“Credit to the players for their endeavour to keep going after going down to 10 men. It shows the character we have got in the group.
"We are down to 12-13 players at the moment and it is tough for them to keep churning the minutes out.
“But, looking back, we should have won the game. The goals we conceded were highly avoidable.
“It’s an unbelievable finish from Nev. I thought he was excellent thoughout the game – a real handful.”