Izale McLeod admits the Doncaster debacle could be the turning point in Crawley’s season.

Some fans were waving the white flag at the club’s survival hopes after a 5-0 thumping on a miserable Tuesday night at the Checkatrade.com Stadium more than three weeks ago.

It followed a 2-1 loss days earlier away to bottom of the table Yeovil Town.

The Doncaster defeat left Crawley second from bottom in League One and five points from safety.

Since then Crawley have been on an upward curve.

Five days after the lowest point of their season they beat Barnsley 5-1 at home thanks to a McLeod hat-trick and followed it up a week later with an even more impressive 2-1 win away to promotion hopefuls Swindon Town.

Then last Saturday the Reds were made to settle for a 1-1 draw at home to another promotion-chasing side, Sheffield United, and were only denied a third successive win by a penalty manager Dean Saunders felt should not have been given nine minutes from time.

The three-match unbeaten run ended at Bradford on Tuesday when many felt Crawley did not deserve to lose 1-0.

However, the defeat failed to burst the bubble of belief which has been growing over the last few games.

McLeod, the League One player of the month for February, knows there has been a change in approach for the players over the last month.

He told The Argus: “The Doncaster game alone was the turning point. No one likes to be beaten but the manner in which we were beaten wasn’t good and something needed to change.

“The penny kind of dropped. We needed to make sure that we were much more difficult to beat and much more difficult to play against.

“It has been so far so good. We have just got to keep plugging away and hopefully we can get the right results.

“We have been saying things have had to change for a while. I can’t put my finger on what it was but since the Doncaster game instead of talking we have been doing because that is all we can do.

“Once we go across that white line we have to make sure we give 100% and make sure we give our all for the football club. The last month has been much better.”

McLeod insists the Crawley squad is in good spirits ahead of today’s visit of Bristol City.

They believe they can get out of trouble and avoid relegation to League Two.

He said: “Winning breeds confidence. We are a bunch of players who are pretty confident. With the position we are in, we are there on merit because the table doesn’t lie but we know we are a lot better than that.

“Everyone here is a really good professional and we all believe that we can get wins. We have shown we can get wins, we can beat the teams at the top of the league and we believe we can get out of it.”

McLeod was brought to Crawley by John Gregory, the manager who gave him his debut as a teenager at Derby County.

But he is enjoying life under interim boss Dean Saunders, who stepped into the hotseat when Gregory underwent heart surgery.

As a former striker at the highest level, Saunders has been able to help McLeod.

The Reds striker said: “The gaffer always talks to me, gives me little tips of things he used to do. He was a top quality striker and he brings a lot of experience because he is a manager who was a centre forward.

“Anything I can take from the gaffer is a plus and a bonus for me.”