Rhys Murphy scored twice against his former club to help Crawley Town beat Dagenham and Redbridge 3-2 at the Checkatrade.com Stadium.

The Shoreham-born striker struck just before half-time and then eight minutes from time to take his tally for the season to ten.

Matt Harrold had given Reds the lead in an otherwise dull first half but goals from Christian Doidge and Jamie Cureton saw Daggers push Crawley all the way.

The result lifted Reds to 14th in League Two while Dagenham remain third from bottom ahead of another trip to Sussex on Wednesday for their FA Cup replay against Whitehawk.

Crawley dominated the opening 20 minutes but were unable to break down a resolute Dagenham defence.

The visitors began to enjoy some success down the right through the lively Josh Passley.

His cross found Jamie Cureton at the far post but the striker could only poke wide on the stretch and then the pair combined again only for Cureton’s strike to be blocked by a defender.

Reds took control of the game just before half-time with two goals in the space of four minutes.

Harrold reacted quickest when Justin Hoyte made a mess of dealing with a high, hanging cross from Gwion Edwards at the far post to swivel and fire past Mark Cousins.

Murphy doubled the advantage just before the interval as he got above his marker to plant a firm header past Cousins from a superb Mitch Hancox cross.

Dagenham squandered two excellent chances to reduce the deficit early in the second half.

Clevid Dikamona headed wide from a corner and then Cureton somehow hit the bar from point blank range after being set up again by Passley.

When Dagenham did get back into the game in the 65th minute it was tinged with controversy.

Harrold felt he should have had a penalty when he tussled with Dikamona on the edge of the box but referee Brendan Malone was not interested.

As Crawley appealed Dagenham broke down the other end with Cureton cutting the ball back for Doidge to volley home from six yards.

Reds restored their two-goal advantage with eight minutes remaining as Murphy was allowed time and space 20 yards out to lash a vicious shot past Cousins.

The Passley-Cureton combination finally brought a goal with five minutes remaining as Cureton got to a low cross from Passley before Darryl Flahavan to make it 3-2 but Reds were able to see the game out.