Crawley went from being villains to heroes in the LDV Vans Trophy last night.

Reds produced a performance manager Francis Vines could be proud of as they took Gillingham into extra time at the Priestfield Stadium after Steve Burton had been sent off on the hour.

Goals from Danny Jackman and Frannie Collin eventually won it for Gills, who also went down to ten men late in the second half.

Vines criticised the way his side conceded two goals in added time in Saturday's 2-0 defeat against Exeter.

But he had nothing but praise for his players after seeing them defy their lowly Conference position to push the League One strugglers all the way.

He said: "After Saturday, where we worked hard, I thought maybe we would not have enough energy but obviously the full-time training is beginning to have an effect because we kept going.

"For us to play like we did was great to see and the players deserve a lot of credit."

Gillingham assistant manager Ronnie Jepsom said: "Crawley did very well and made it really hard for us. But we were not surprised by that and thankfully managed to kill them off when it matters."

Gillingham, who are third from bottom in League One, were without seven first team players due to injury and suspension, including top scorer Darren Byfield.

Their appalling league form was reflected in the poor turnout of the home fans - three-quarters of the ground was empty - which made for a strange atmosphere.

Crawley, who qualified for the competition for the first time after finishing twelfth in the Conference last season, were almost at full strength. Only captain Ian Simpemba missed out with a knee injury.

They had an early scare when striker Steve Hislop broke clear and forced a point-blank stop from keeper Phil Smith, who was recalled after four games on the bench.

But after that Reds controlled the first half and could have been ahead at the break.

Andy Lindegaard, who was replaced by Jamie Cade after 22 minutes due to a thigh strain, had a left-foot drive from the edge of the box well saved by debutant keeper Tony Bullock on four minutes.

Paul Armstrong hit a 20-yard volley from Simon Wormull's corner soon after which Bullock dived low to his left to gather.

Chris Giles then twice showed his threat in the air either side of the half-hour mark from Wormull corners but both headers lacked enough power to trouble Gillingham's young custodian.

Reds ran riot in the early stages of the second half and only the brilliance of Bullock kept Gillingham in the game.

He spectacularly pushed away a curling effort by Wormull from just outside the box and then somehow got his body in the way of a close-range pile-driver by Burton.

It appeared only a matter of time before Crawley took the lead until Burton's moment of madness on 61 minutes.

The striker, frustrated with his earlier miss, elbowed defender Tom Willims in the face, which was spotted by an assistant, and received a straight red.

Gillingham dominated briefly afterwards but the numerical advantage lasted only 15 minutes as captain Leon Johnson was sent off for a reckless two-footed tackle on Cade.

Crawley thought they had snatched a win six minutes from time when Giles nodded home after a mistake by Bullock but the goal was ruled out for offside.

Substitute Jackman broke the deadlock four minutes into extra time with a simple sidefoot finish after Neil Harris found space down the right to cross.

Frannie Collin netted the second two minutes after the change of ends with a neat finish under Smith.