Crawley Town produced a remarkable comeback to pick up their first home win of the season against ten-man Leyton Orient.

Reds were fortunate to trail to a solitary Jay Simpson goal after being completely outplayed in the opening 25 minutes but roared back to win 3-2.

Roarie Deacon ended a home goal drought which had lasted nearly nine hours when he fired home the equaliser after 27 minutes with Mitch Hancox making it 2-1 ten minutes later with his first senior goal.

Crawley took a stranglehold on the game when Alan Dunne was sent off for bringing Rhys Murphy down in the area on the stroke of half-time and Simon Walton made no mistake from the spot.

Orient made light of their numerical disadvantage in the second half and set up a nervous finish when Simpson pulled one back nine minutes from the end.

But Reds held on to maintain the complete their sixth win in seven games against Orient and climb to 18th in League Town.

Things did not get off to the most encouraging of starts for Crawley as Orient took control of the game right from the start and grabbed the lead after eight minutes.

Dean Cox’s free kick was headed against a post by Ollie Palmer and although Callum Preston blocked one follow-up shot he was unable to prevent Simpson firing home from close range.

Simpson should have doubled the advantage after 20 minutes when Simpson broke clear only to lob the ball over the onrushing Preston and inches wide of the post.

The visitors also had a goal ruled out for offside while Palmer put a header over from a good position as they threatened to run riot.

Reds had offered no attacking threat until Deacon equalised with their first effort at goal. The former Arsenal man cut in from the right and drilled a low shot from the edge of the area which went in off a post.

The goal seemed to give Crawley some belief and they got their noses in front eight minutes before half-time. A corner from Hancox was only cleared back to him on the right and the on-loan Birmingham defender whipped a shot past Alex Cisak at his near post.

Orient were stunned and suffered a further setback on the stroke of half-time when an excellent counter-attack by Crawley ended with Dunne bringing down Rhys Murphy in the area.

Referee Kevin Wright had no option but to show Dunne a red card and Walton inflicted further punishment by sending Cisak the wrong way from the spot.

Despite their numerical advantage Crawley opted to sit back and defend their lead in the second half and were indebted to two good saves from Preston to preserve their two-goal cushion.

The youngster reacted quickly to kick a header from substitute John Marquis on to a post and then pushed over a 25-yard effort from Sammy Moore.

Reds were happy to play on the break but almost extended their lead when Matt Harrold met a cross from Murphy with a powerful header which Cisak did well to turn behind.

Orient did set up a nervous finale for the home fans when Simpson fired home his second with nine minutes to go but Reds were able to hold on for a much-needed win.