Reds almost safe

They will beat the drop if they take three points and Scarborough fail to win at newly crowned champions Accrington Stanley.

Reds moved to the brink of safety after beating Aldershot at Broadfield Stadium.

Their sixth victory in seven league games was the result of a tactical masterstroke by manager John Hollins.

He surprised fans by naming an unfamiliar line-up and formation.

Steve Burton and Danny Ekoku, who are usually centre forwards, started as attacking wingers and Omari Coleman played up front on his own.

Michael Bostwick, 17, on work experience from Millwall and a fullback by trade, made his first league start in midfield as a replacement for Danny Clay.

Clay was recalled from a loan spell by Exeter two days before the game and was expected to be replaced by Rob Kember, who was not included in the squad after being brought back from a temporary spell at Lewes.

Bostwick lined up in a youthful three-man central midfield alongside Lee Blackburn, 20, and Scott Marshall, 18.

Plenty of fans were scratching their heads as Reds left experienced campaigners Dave Woozley, Sacha Opinel and Neil Jenkins on the bench.

But Hollins' bold decision was more than justified as both goals that sank a pitiful Shots side came as a direct result of his tactical changes Burton was released down the right flank in the build-up for the first on 28 minutes and cut inside for Blackburn to strike from 20 yards.

His effort was spilt by keeper Nikki Bull and Coleman reacted quickest to hook the ball in off the underside of the crossbar.

Bostwick capped a solid display with the second ten minutes after half-time. He slammed into the bottom corner from the edge of the box after a neat lay-off by Ekoku.

By that time Hollins had been forced to revert to his tried-and-trusted 4-4-2 due to an injury to Coleman.

The Reds manager revealed he changed the attacking approach because Ian Simpemba was playing for Aldershot.

The defender left Crawley last month to join Shots on loan for the rest of the season.

Hollins said: "We played the young boys in there because they have deserved a chance and they came up trumps.

"Because Ian (Simpemba) would know us well I thought we would try something different so their back four would not be able to get out.

"It worked to a certain degree, our flow of football wasn't as good as we wanted it to be but it got us a goal."

The two goals were just about the only scoring opportunities Reds created in a dour, scrappy game.

They were not at their best but have learnt how to churn out wins by working hard.

Their performance was in stark contrast to Aldershot, whose players appeared to already have their minds on their summer holidays.

However, victory came at a cost for Reds. They are struggling to fill the bench for today's trip to Hertfordshire after their injury problems deepened.

As well as Coleman, defender Chris Giles (ankle), Burton (knee) and Blackburn (head) were forced off with knocks.

Blackburn's injury came with three minutes to go and left Crawley playing with ten men as they had already made three substitutions.

They join midfielders Paul Armstrong (back) and Tony Scully (hamstring) on the treatment table.

Of the injured players, Giles' absence will be felt most of all. The Welshman was back to his best against his old club alongside Leo Mendy in the centre of defence following last week's uncharacteristic shaky performance against Burton Albion.

Along with another inspired display by keeper Phil Smith, they restricted the visitors to one clear chance.

Kirk Hudson beat the offside trap to go clear on goal on 70 minutes and was denied by a point-blank stop by Smith.

Hollins said: "It has been costly, I think we have lost three more players. I am probably going to have to get my boots out. I can't find them at the moment and there will probably be dust on them.

"But Robbie Kember has come back and we have Sami El-Abd, so we have one or two players to come in. We will think of something."