Crawley suffered their first defeat under Dean Saunders after being totally outplayed in the snow at Rochdale.

Rochdale ran Crawley ragged for the first hour and could easily have added to first half goals from Scott Tanser and Ian Henderson.

Matt Done missed a penalty and Crawley threatened to nick a point as Marvin Elliott pulled a goal back with 14 minutes to go.

But Henderson fired home his second goal to secure victory for the home side and then Calvin Andrew scored a fortunate fourth in injury time to rub salt in the wounds.

The result extended Crawley’s winless run to 13 games and leaves them just a point off the foot of the League One table following Yeovil’s win over Bradford.

Rochdale completely dominated the first half and deservedly went in 2-0 ahead at the interval.

Reds spent almost the entire 45 minutes penned inside their own half and it seemed only a matter of time before they would concede.

Dale felt they should have had a penalty when Gwion Edwards appeared to clip the ankles of Joe Rafferty as he cut inside in the 22nd minute but referee Trevor Kettle was unimpressed.

Lewis Price was called into serious action for the first time three minutes later when he blocked a deflected shot from Matt Done.

Rochdale continued to push forward and they inevitably broke the deadlock in the 33rd minute. Done’s free kick smashed straight into the Crawley wall but the ball was put back into the box and when it was only partially cleared Tanser fired a superb volley through a crowd of players and inside the far post.

The home side doubled their lead five minutes later when Price was only able to push out a low, 25-yard shot from Rhys Bennett and Henderson was on hand to slot home the loose ball.

Rochdale wasted a golden opportunity to wrap up the points seven minutes after the restart when they won a penalty.

Lanre Oyebanjo brought down Done as he burst into the box but Dale’s top scorer’s spot-kick was comfortably saved by Price.

Calvin Andrew was then guilty of spurning a good chance after being set up by Done as his sidefoot from 12 yards was too close to the Reds goalkeeper.

Saunders made a double change in the 55th minute in a bid to turn the tide with Bobson Bawling and Lewis Young coming on for the ineffective Gavin Tomlin and Gwion Edwards.

Having been completely outplayed for almost an hour Crawley should have made it 2-1 in the 59th minute. Jimmy Smith’s shot was parried by Josh Lillis and Izale McLeod blazed the rebound over the bar from eight yards when it looked easier to score.

McLeod also shot high and wide as Crawley began to come into the game more and they halved the deficit with 14 minutes to go.

A free kick from Anthony Wordsworth was headed back across goal by McLeod and Elliott did well to get in front of his man and hook the ball home.

Ryan Dickson kept Crawley’s hopes alive by clearing the ball off the line after a scramble in the area but Henderson eased any nerves by firing past Price from the edge of the area with the help of a big deflection.

Rochdale (4-1-2-3): Lillis; Rafferty, Eastham, Lancashire, Tanser; Bennett; Dawson, Camps (Allen,85); Vincenti (Andrew, 31), Done (Noble-Lazarus, 89), Henderson. Subs not used: Musangu, Brandy, Rose, Logan.

Crawley (4-4-2): Price; Oyebanjo, Ward, Walsh, Dickson; Smith, Elliott, Wordsworth, Edwards (Bawling, 55); Tomlin (Young, 55), McLeod (Harrold, 83). Subs not used: Rachoni de Lima, Bradley, Banya, Anderson.