Francis Vines believes Crawley's first win will be the launch pad for a successful season.

Reds ended a run of four straight defeats by beating Canvey Island at the Broadfield Stadium.

Victory lifted them off the bottom of the Conference and eased the pressure which has been mounting on Vines and his side with every poor result.

Expectations soared during the summer when Crawley decided to go full time full-time football.

The Crawley manager said: "Now the weight of that first result has been lifted from the players' shoulders, they can get on with the season and produce the football they are capable of.

"This is hopefully the turning point of the season and we can start stringing results together and the guys can start enjoying their football without the pressure of not scoring and not winning."

Ironically, Crawley have performed much better this season than they did against Canvey and not won because they have failed to take their chances.

This time, it was the visitors who were left feeling aggrieved after they dominated for an hour but went home with nothing.

They were without Conference top scorer Lee Boylan, who had a groin injury, and it showed as they missed numerous opportunities to take the lead in the first half.

The best was a shot from Jon Keeling which was saved superbly at pointblank by Phil Smith, while a header from Dominic Sterling which came off the bar.

Meanwhile, Reds had one effort on target in the opening 45 minutes and scored when Paul Armstrong somehow squeezed a tame left-foot shot inside Danny Potter's near-post when it seemed the Canvey keeper had it covered.

Justice was done for Canvey when former Albion midfielder Jeff Minton swept the equaliser past Smith 30 seconds into the second half from Kezie Ibe's low cross.

The visitors should have gone ahead soon after when former Crawley striker Allan Tait was given a clear sight at goal but fired straight at Smith.

But once Sacha Opinel toepunted under the onrushing Potter on 50 minutes after racing onto a through ball by Simon Wormull, Reds relaxed and never looked in danger of defeat.

Canvey, who showed their frustration when Chris Duffy was sent off five minutes from time for lashing out at Chris Giles, must be sick of the sight of Opinel.

The Frenchman scored against them for Farnborough in a 1-1 draw last December and again on his Crawley home league debut a month later to condemn Canvey to a 2-1 defeat.

Opinel admits it has taken longer than expected for the players to get to grips with fulltime football and is confident that now they have, more wins will come.

He said: "It has been hard in pre-season going full-time. Some of us used to work, so although we are happy, it has not been easy to deal with.

"We have started to realise we are full-time and now we have this win, I think it will be the start of our season.

"We have to make sure we carry on winning because we want to get to the play-offs."

Talk of a play-off place may seem over-optimistic at the moment but if Crawley reproduce the way they played after Opinel's goal in every game, it could be a realistic target.

With the pressure off, the football began to flow and Daryl Clare, in particular, caught the eye.

Not, however, for his prowess in front of goal, which is why Vines paid a record transfer fee for the former Conference top scorer, but for the way he dropped deep to link up play and he never stopped running.

It was his neat ball over the top which released Jamie Cade down the right for Crawley'sthird goal on 71 minutes.

Cade has struggled to make an impression since joining in the summer from Colchester.

He has looked lightweight playing up front, although Vines insists he is a future goalscorer, and ineffectual in his alternative position as a right winger.

But he finally utilised his pace on the flank when he outsprinted Sterling and crossed perfectly for former Canvey striker Steve Burton to head past Potter from close range.

Vines said: "We completely and utterly controlled the game after we scored. That is how we want to play in every game and can play in every game.

"It shows what we can do once we get a bit of self-belief back."