New interim manager Dean Saunders described Crawley's goalless draw with Colchester United as the "result of the day".

Saunders was delighted with the performance of his makeshift side as they clung on for a point at the Checkatrade.com Stadium to climb out of the League One relegation zone.

Reds had to field three players out of position in the back four but managed to keep their first clean sheet for more than two months, although they needed a bit of luck as Colchester hit the woodwork four times.

Saunders, who only took over from John Gregory yesterday, said: "I'm really happy considering the team I had to put out.

"I rang Paul Groves (assistant manager) yesterday and he told me we didn't have any defenders so we had to throw a back four together.

"Lewis (Young) had never played at right-back and Marvin (Elliott) had never played at centre-back before. Bobson (Bawling) is a right-back playing on the left so to keep a clean sheet was brilliant.

"I told them afterwards that whatever the other results were today that this was the result of the day because of the circumstances.

"We had a bit of luck but this gives us something to build on. It stops the rot and also prevented Colchester from getting two more points."