Crawley boss Francis Vines has targeted a ten-match unbeaten run after a dramatic late victory at Scarborough.

Substitute defender Chris Giles scored in injury time to give Reds their first away league win since January.

The summer signing from Aldershot, who plays as a striker for the Wales semi-professional team, rose above Paul Foot to head a free-kick from Simon Wormull past keeper Leigh Walker from close range.

Giles was only on the field because of an early knee injury to captain Ian Simpemba, who limped off after just seven minutes.

The late strike took Crawley up four places to 17th in the Conference and leaves them unbeaten in three games.

Vines has been saying for weeks that his side only need one lucky break to give them the confidence to turn their season around.

He believes Giles' last-gasp header could be it and has urged his players to prove him right.

Vines said: "We are three games unbeaten now and I want to make that ten games.

"That is what we need to aim for and I believe we have a team good enough to do it.

"Once the results start rolling in and we get up to mid-table, then I think we will look a different side. We have just got to stop making silly individual errors and it will happen."

A look at the form-book may suggest Vines' target is a tad unrealistic. Reds have only won three times this season and, taking the end of the last campaign into account, have tasted victory just four times in their last 24 league games.

But Crawley showed a new belief against Scarborough that suggests a decent run is not out of the question.

Their brittle confidence would probably have snapped a few weeks ago when the Seadogs equalised on the stroke of half-time with an unstoppable 20-yard free-kick from Michael Coulson, which sped into the bottom corner.

It was a devastating blow as Reds had dominated most of the first half after a slice of luck had given them a ninth-minute lead.

Wormull's whipped free-kick, which was intended to be a cross, eluded everyone in the box and curled into the far corner with Walker rooted to the spot.

But rather than let their heads drop in the second half, Reds emerged from the interval with a refreshing never-say-die attitude.

Although they still looked shaky at the back at times, they defended doggedly, rode their luck and won the crucial tackles in midfield.

They also created good chances to win it before Giles netted. Daryl Clare should have done better when he shot weakly at Walker on 54 minutes after being put clear on goal by Steve Burton's clever flick.

Former Scarborough striker Burton, who was booed at every opportunity by the home fans, then had a close range header spectacularly pushed out by the home keeper seconds later from a Ben Judge cross.

Vines said: "I can't say it was a great performance because it wasn't but we got the three points and that had not been happening a few weeks ago.

"We were jittery at times but that is what it is going to be like when you are down the bottom and I'm hoping this will help them to get over it.

"We showed good character to keep going and that self-belief is something that maybe we didn't have earlier in the season. Hopefully now we have turned that corner."

While Giles will take the plaudits for the victory, a different sort of contribution from another defender was also crucial. Sacha Opinel received the third red card of his eight-month Crawley career deep in injury time when he brought down Mark Quayle just outside the box.

It was a blatant sending off as Quayle was through on goal and Opinel was the last man.

The leftback will now miss Saturday's crucial home clash with Exeter but that is a small price to pay because, had the Frenchman not intervened, Quayle would have almost certainly have scored. Instead, Coulson drove the resulting free-kick straight into the wall.