The visitors' goal came in the 91st minute as Wrexham missed out on the chance to move joint top of the National League - watch match highlights here.
Lafayette's screamer cancelled out Marcus Kelly's 16th minute strike to give the U's, who started the day in first, a share of the points.
"I thought we played really well in the first-half," said Keates. "Sutton put you under a lot of pressure with a lot of balls into the box and I thought the lads stood up to it.
"Second half I didn't think we were that great but we created chances. We were a bit naive, you have to put them to the sword and we didn't do that.
"We have to take those chances and if we do it makes life a lot easier.
"I'm not taking anything away from Sutton. They're a big, strong team and that's how they operate. Our two centre-halves were outstanding and we limited them to long distance shots.
"The goal is a great strike and that was the only kind of goal that was going to break us down."
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