A manager with Steve Evans’ experience was never going to get carried away because Crawley are top of the Blue Square premier after just nine games.

In fact, Evans’ message to supporters on a high after watching their side reel off a fifth straight win was designed to bring them back to earth.

He said: “We’re a bit nearer our target of 54 points which means we are a Conference club again next season.”

Evans is right to play down his side’s prospects of staying ahead of rivals with bigger squads and bigger budgets.

But there is no reason why Reds cannot match Evans’ pre-season prediction and sustain a play-offs challenge.

What’s more, they are currently confounding those who say teams cannot pass their way out of this division.

Aldershot shot that theory to pieces last season and Crawley are capable of doing the same, as previous leaders Mansfield discovered for an hour when they were run ragged by superior passing, pace and movement off the ball in their 2-1 defeat.

Evans said: “I’ve got the utmost respect for Mansfield. They were leaders on merit but in the first half in particular we made them look poor and if we’d scored three or four goals it wouldn’t have been an injustice.

“Apart from the first game against York and 20 minutes at Forest Green we have been playing like that all season.

“Can we stay top? Who knows. We’ve got a small squad and if I want to bring in one or two players they will be loans or work experience on £100 a week. But it’s great to get there and every week we stay there is going to be a bonus.”

Evans’ post-match message to his players was along similar lines, according to Adam Quinn who gave an outstanding performance at the heart of Crawley’s back four where right-back Glenn Wilson ran him close for man of the match.

Quinn, who scored his first goal for the club, said: “We’ve put ourselves in a great position and the challenge will be to keep it going.

“We always create chances and we missed a few in the first half. When they don’t go in it’s down to the boys at the back to grind out the result and that’s what we did. No one is getting carried away but we will enjoy being top.”

Quinn is a formidable presence at both ends of the field. No wonder Simon Rayner and Jake Wright soon stopped blaming each other for Mansfield’s goal when the big man stepped in as peacemaker.

Quinn must have been surprised when Stags’ keeper Paddy Gamble failed to make a routine claim of Simon Weatherstone’s free-kick, allowing him to guide an unchallenged header into the net for Reds’ 16th-minute opener.

His knockdown gave Jamie Cook a sight of goal and Gamble made amends for his blunder with a point-blank save and before the break Quinn had another header cleared off the line.

With Thomas Pinault’s probing passes creating space and Dannie Bulman dominating the midfield, Reds could have been out of sight by half-time.

Gamble was equal to Weatherstone’s piledriver while Pinault and Cook were just off target but Reds had to wait just 24 seconds into the second half to double their lead. Gamble should have cleared Alan O’Hare’s header but his hesitation gave the alert Cook the chance to walk the ball into an empty net for his fourth of the season.

Lewis Killeen could have wrapped it up five minutes later but mis-kicked four yards out and twisted an ankle in the process. Mansfield’s defence looked more comfortable against Steve Fletcher, even though he was superb in the air, and Rayner made a superb save to parry Mark Stallard’s shot before he failed to hold Nathan Arnold’s shot and Jonathan Silk swept in the loose ball to give the Stags hope.

It left Reds with 11 minutes to hang on but with Quinn marshalling the troops Mansfield did not get another sight of goal.

Quinn and his team-mates enjoyed a well-deserved celebration on Saturday night but they were training again yesterday.

“Nothing changes,” said Evans. “We’ll still be doing double sessions this week and the usual gym work. There’s too much experience in our management team to get carried away but it is nice to be there and be there on merit.”

Crawley: Rayner, Wilson, Rents, Quinn, Wright; Killeen (sub Fletcher 50), Weatherstone (sub Thomas 90), Pinault, Bulman, Forrest; Cook (sub Douglas 85). Subs not used: Stevens, Giles.

Mansfield: Gamble, Silk, D’Laryea, Moses, O’Hare, Arnold, Somner, Stallard, Blackwood, Jeannin, Robinson (sub O’Connor 60). Subs not used: Shaw, McGhee, Hurren, Herriott.

Booked: Robinson.