Steve Evans hailed his players’ spirit after Steve Fletcher’s last-minute header fired Crawley up to third place in the Blue Square premier.

A 1-0 win at Rushden and Diamonds extended the Reds’ unbeaten run to five games and put them just a point behind league leaders Mansfield, who visit the Broadfield Stadium on Saturday in what is now a top of the table clash.

With the pre-season promotion favourites floundering in the bottom half of the table, on-form Crawley have stolen a march and Evans insisted his side fully deserved their lofty position among the division’s early frontrunners.

He said: “We’ve got ourselves in this position deservedly because in the bulk of the games we’ve had we have dominated for long periods and today especially in the first half, apart from the odd Rushden breakaway, we seemed to dominate key areas of the pitch.

“As we got to the last ten minutes when we made our substitutions, for the first time since I’ve been at Crawley we were making changes that we thought could make us stronger.

“I think we deserved it over 90 minutes. We have been very professional, dogged and deserved our result hands down. If we had left with only a point we would have been very disappointed.”

The ecstatic reaction of the Crawley players to Fletcher’s winner spoke volumes for the sense of unity that seems to be growing within the squad just a month into the season.

Even the unused substitutes ran round the pitch to join the celebrations in front of the travelling Reds fans and it was a victory that the visitors just about deserved.

Rushden will feel hard done by but could have had no real complaints after failing to create anything in the final third and surviving a strong penalty shout when Danny Forrest appeared to be tripped in the penalty area with ten minutes left.

Crawley, fielding the same starting 11 for the third game in a row, adjusted to the greasy pitch first but both sides struggled to carve out genuine chances in a cagey opening 45 minutes.

Forrest set up the Reds’ best chance of the half, cutting a reverse pass into Simon Weatherstone whose shot on the run was blocked by a defender. Thomas Pinault also went close when his drive was charged down with Rushden goalkeeper Andy Marriott lying prone on the ground.

The hosts lacked the final ball to unlock an uncompromising Crawley defence in which Adam Quinn led by example, although Curtis Osano threatened with a low drive just wide of Simon Rayner’s near post.

Goal chances truly dried up after the break although Andy Burgess drew an excellent diving save from Rayner with a curling free-kick on the hour mark.

Fletcher replaced the anonymous Lewis Killeen and changed the focus of Crawley’s attacking, holding the ball up and helping the visitors build pressure.

The Reds stepped up the tempo for the latter stages but from the moment that Forrest’s penalty appeal was waved away the game seemed destined to be a goalless draw.

But Crawley refused to give in and with a last throw of the dice Dannie Bulman beat his man on the right wing and floated a cross to the far post where Fletcher rose above three defenders to slam a header in off the underside of the crossbar.

Evans said: “We had a stone-wall penalty not given when Danny Forrest got hauled down but sometimes you don’t get those things.

“But we have a fantastic team spirit, we have some great characters and Steve Fletcher is back and what a way to do it.”

Crawley: Rayner, Rents, Wilson, Quinn, Wright, Weatherstone, Forrest, Bulman, Pinault, Cook (Douglas 85), Killeen (Fletcher 65). Subs not used: Stevens, Giles, Thomas.

Rushden: Marriott, Osano, Hope, Knight, Woodhouse, Phillips (Rankine 56), Burgess, Wolleaston (Kelly 79), Burton, Roberts, Corcoran. Subs not used: Gulliver, Beecroft, Smith.

Booked: Woodhouse.