Boss Dean Saunders praised Crawley’s response to their midweek thrashing by Doncaster as they recorded their most emphatic victory in the Football League.

Izale McLeod scored a hat-trick while Marvin Elliott and Sonny Bradley were also on target to seal a 5-1 victory over Barnsley at the Checkatrade.com Stadium.

It helped to erase the memory of Tuesday’s 5-0 thumping by Rovers and lifted them to within two points of safety in League One.

Saunders said: “It was a great way to respond from us. I actually told them in the week that we could go out today and win by five but I don’t think they believed me!

“The whole thing looked a lot better. The team battled and all credit to the players as they showed what they are made of.

“We played some great football at times and once we got the goals you could see the confidence come back. I actually enjoyed watching it!

“On Tuesday there were lots of players who were fours and fives out of ten but today there lots of eights and nines.

“We defended well and the strikers did their bit. Izale will get the headlines but I thought (Mathias) Pogba played well and Lee Fowler was outstanding.

“Sonny(Bradley) has had to wait for his chance but he came in and didn’t miss a thing and scored a good goal too.”