Vitesse Arnhem lie second in the Eredivisie table after being held to a 3-3 draw at struggling Roda JC on Saturday despite going three goals in front.
Mike Havenaar scored after 26 and 36 minutes and Wilfried Bony added a third after 56 to put Vitesse on course for a win which would have taken them joint top with leaders Ajax.
Sanharib Malki pulled a goal back from the penalty spot after 63 minutes and Frank Demouge gave Roda more hope when he scored their second with 20 minutes to go.
But it was left up to Mitchell Donald to score the equaliser in injury time which earned his side a point but still sees them in the relegation play-off spots.
Two late goals from substitute Dmitri Bulykin fired FC Twente to a 3-1 away win over over ADO Den Haag to keep his side in contention for European qualification.
Douglas had given the visitors the lead after 24 minutes but Mike van Duinen drew the home side level four minutes before half-time.
Danny Holla was sent off for ADO on the hour and 14 minutes later Bulykin joined the action when he replaced Tim Breukers.
Bulykin put his side ahead after 81 minutes and sealed the victory when he scored again two minutes later.
A goal from David Texeira after 62 minutes and a penalty from Leandro Bacuna (76) saw FC Groningen win 2-0 away against Heracles Almelo, while late strikes from Anthony Lurling (82) and Elson Hooi (85) earned NAC Breda a 2-0 home win over NEC Nijmegen.
A 1-1 home draw with play-off chasing Walsall leaves the Iron in the bottom four, two points adrift of safety, but Laws remains optimistic about keeping them up.
"It does look a difficult task now but we have got to keep believing we can do it," said Laws.
"I thought our first half display was really good and we should have been a couple of goals in front. But the goals have dried up for us now and that is really hurting us.
"The goals are not coming at times when we are dominating games. I really believe that if we had scored first against Walsall, then we would have gone on and won this game.
"But you could see a reaction when it was they who scored just after half-time. Credit to my team though that they kept going to got back into the game with a late equaliser.
"Will that be enough - who know's? I can quite understand our supporters going away at the end feeling 'that is it'. But we cannot think like that. I know the situation we are in is now difficult but we have got to believe we still have a chance of getting out of trouble.
"We have got a big match at Bury now on Tuesday night and we have got to go there and get three points. Nothing else will do, but if we can come away with a win, then that will keep the pressure on the teams around us."
Centre-back Niall Canavan salvaged Scunthorpe a point with an 88th-minute header after Will Grigg had fired Walsall in front from close range after 54 minutes with his 19th goal of the season.
Goals from Chris Porter and Dave Kitson won it for the Blades, who parted company with manager Danny Wilson in midweek.
MacDonald said: "There were a few choice words in that dressing room because, not for the first time recently, we've produced a performance that wasn't up to scratch.
"We're a good team and we know we can do much better than that. Now it's up to us to go out there and show it in our next match.
"We showed flashes of it against a United team which we always knew was going to be very fired up because of what has gone on in the week.
"But we've got to put that together now over the course of 90 minutes rather than in bits."
Centre-back Niall Canavan salvaged struggling Scunthorpe a 1-1 draw with an 88th-minute header. However, the Iron remain deep in relegation trouble and only a brilliant stoppage-time save by Eirik Holmen Johansen saved them from defeat as the Saddlers pressed for the winning goal that would have seen them climb into the play-off places.
After a slow start, the visitors looked set for the three points they needed when leading marksman Will Grigg, back after injury, fired them in front from close range after 54 minutes with his 19th goal of the season from a good pull-back by Craig Westcarr.
"We are still in a great position," said Smith, whose side are now unbeaten in 14 league games and are one point behind sixth-placed Swindon but having played a game more than the Robins.
"We have just now got to prepare ourselves to go again in our last two games of the season. This bunch of players have worked so hard in the second half of the season to get us into the position we are now in.
"I was disappointed with the way we played in the first half - and I told them so. I thought we came out in the second half and showed much more spirit.
"It was a difficult decision to bring Will Grigg back into the team after injury when we had been playing so well, but he is our leading scorer with 20 goals now this season and you can't afford to leave someone like that out. That was underlined when he shot us in front early in the second half.
"We should then have gone on and killed the game off. We had the chances and I think we were unfortunate not to win.
"We have a very disappointed dressing room in there, but other results have gone for us and we have not lost any ground. We have now got to go again next Saturday when we take on Bury."
