Mikey Malcolm fired injury-hit Crawley into a half-time lead at Gateshead with his first league goal of the season.
The hosts had a chance to open the scoring inside 50 seconds as Peter Winn played in Kris Gate but his shot was too easy for Simon Rayner.
Crawley's first sniff of goal came in the 23rd minute when Lewis Killeen chested down Charles Ademeno's cross for Ben Smith who should just past the near post when he should have done better.
On 25 minutes Crawley keeper Simon Rayner failed to hold a 30-yard free-kick from Andy Haworth but the ball was scrambled clear.
The deadlock was broken just before the half-hour mark when Glenn Wilson floated a ball in from the right for Malcolm, who took it down and slipped defender Darren Williams on the edge of the box before rifling past goalkeeper Paul Farman.
The good work could have been undone within 60 seconds as Eddie Hutchinson miscued a clearance straight to Gate who fired just over an empty net from 30 yards with Rayner out of position.
Just before the break Gateshead appealed for a penalty when Winn went down under challenge from Rayner but the referee was not interested.
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