Goals from Danny Marney and Allan Tait put Crawley in the driving seat in the first leg of the Dr Martens League Cup final.

Crawley's 2-1 win at Moor Green leaves them in pole position for the return leg in a fortnight.

Reds assistant-manager Dave Swindlehurst was pleased with the performance.

He said: "I thought we were very good, the boys we put in did well and we displayed the type of passing and movement we want at this club.

"We had countless number of efforts and limited their chances. But it is all still to play for in the second leg."

Tait and Fiston Manuella were both handed their first starts, while Robert Kember was cleared for his debut.

Ian Payne, Karl Ready and Robert Traynor also featured.

The Reds dominated the first half. Moor Green keeper Adam Rachel was in excellent form to deny Kember and Marney while Manuella had a shot cleared off the line.

Moor Green took the lead against the run of play at the end of the first half. Neil Davis broke down the right and his cross was nodded in by Jae Martin at the back post.

But Crawley responded immediately as Marney ran on to a through ball and drilled his low shot past Rachel.

Crawley should have taken the lead on the hour mark when Manuella raced through one-on-one with the keeper but he dragged his shot wide.

But two minutes later Marney sent Tait away and he made no mistake with a cool finish to open up his Crawley account.

The second leg will be played on April 20.