Crawley Town climbed back out of the League One relegation zone with a crucial 2-0 win at home to fellow strugglers Notts County.

Goals from defenders Kelly Youga and Darren Ward lifted the Reds above both County, Leyton Orient and Crewe up to 19th in the table.

Orient have dropped into the bottom four after a thumping 6-1 defeat at MK Dons while Crewe To help Crawley’s cause Colchester and Scunthorpe drew 2-2.

Manager Dean Saunders made a huge call by throwing Josh Simpson straight back into the starting line-up after more than five months out with a hamstring-related injury.

Crawley grabbed control of the game with two goals inside three minutes, both from Anthony Wordsworth set-pieces.

The breakthrough came on 14 minutes when Wordsworth’s corner was met by an overhead kick from Youga for his first Crawley goal.

Then on 16 minutes Ward, back after four games out with a heel injury, opened his account for the club when he headed home Wordsworth’s free-kick from the right.

It was a great start but Crawley needed good reactions from goalkeeper Brian Jensen to prevent a quick reply, keeping out headers from Jimmy Spencer and Garry Thompson and then holding a shot from Graham Burke.

Notts County’s Albion loanee Paddy McCourt hobbled off injured after 32 minutes and this prompted a change in formation from the visitors who threw on an extra forward in his place.

Crawley could have had a penalty on 36 minutes when top scorer Izale McLeod went down under challenge from Jordan Williams but referee Lee Collins waved away what looked like a decent appeal.

An action-packed half concluded with Jensen saving a volley from a corner by Gary Jones.

McLeod had a chance to extend the lead on 57 minutes but he headed wide from Mathias Pogba’s cross.

The excellent Simpson lasted 70 minutes before being replaced by Gwion Edwards, who gave the Reds an extra injection of pace.

Crawley defended superbly in the second half and Jensen was rarely called into action.

They could have extended their lead too but substitute Dean Morgan blazed wastefully wide after McLeod’s shot was saved by Roy Carroll.

Crawley: Jensen; Young, Ward, Bradley, Youga; Simpson (sub Edwards 70), Fowler, Wordsworth, Tomlin (sub Oyebanjo 85); Pogba (sub Morgan 78); McLeod. Subs not used: Dickson, Smith, Harrold, Price.

Notts County: Carroll; Dumbuya, Mullins, Williams, Adams (sub Hayhurst 53); Jones, G.Thompson, McCourt (sub Bajner 32), Smith, Burke; Spencer (sub C.Thompson 67). Subs not used: Hollis, Wroe, Edwards, Pilkington.