Ronnie Bull scored from the halfway line on his Crawley debut and then admitted it was a complete fluke.

The left-back, signed from Grays last week, netted the crucial second goal to seal three vital points at Aldershot.

He hit a hopeful long ball forward which bounced over Shots keeper Nikki Bull and into the net midway through the second half.

Bull celebrated by shrugging his shoulders before being mobbed by his team-mates.

The former Millwall defender joked: "Of course I meant to do it. I saw the keeper off his line and decided to lob him.

"No seriously, I just tried to hit a diagonal ball and it came off the end of my toes. The wind then took it and it bounced into the net."

That stroke of luck was no more than Bull deserved for an impressive performance.

He was one of three players making their Crawley bows following the signings last week of Magnus Okuonghae and Steve Evans.

Okuonghae, signed from St Albans, took time to settle in the centre of defence but grew in confidence after Reds survived a first half-hour battering and was solid throughout.

Former Wales under-21 international Evans, who had not even trained with his new team- mates after joining from Woking on Friday, slotted straight into the heart of the midfield with an aggressive, dominant display.

But it was Bull who most caught the eye. He was good on the ball, hard in the tackle and vocal throughout.

He said: "When you sign a few new players, normally from a management point of view you would be happy to get away with a draw or a 1-0 defeat, just to see how the team gels.

"But the lads came straight in and did the business and it is credit to the staff here that they have brought the right lads in.

"I enjoyed myself, it was an all-round good performance, the staff and the fans as well.

"We had good belief, there was a good atmosphere in the camp and everyone did well."

Joint caretaker boss Ben Judge watched the game from the dug out for the first time since taking over with Dave Woozley and John Yems in November because he was suspended.

He was more than impressed by what he saw, particularly the new boys, and admits he may now have to drop himself.

He said: "The three of them (new signings) were outstanding and they were probably the best players on the pitch.

"Ronnie Bull's tackling was superb, his commitment was brilliant and he is a voice in the changing room as well which maybe we have been lacking.

"Magnus looked very comfortable alongside Wooze. He had to settle into a new back four and I thought he was brilliant.

"Evans brought us something new, a lot of a quality and he likes a tackle as well.

"Watching from the bench was a strange experience but I will be there again on Saturday now because there is no way we can drop anyone based on that performance."

Reds were forced to throw the new faces in at the deep end due to a hat-trick of key absentees.

As well as Judge, defender Michael Bostwick was missing after being recalled from his loan spell by Millwall and midfielder Lee Blackburn was out with an ankle injury.

Crawley also handed a first ever Conference start to goalkeeper Rob Tolfrey after regular No.1 Ben Hamer failed a fitness test on a hamstring injury.

To make matters worse, influential winger Tony Scully lasted just 18 minutes before limping off with a hamstring problem.

But the changes made Reds stronger and the 5-0 hammering at York the week before was quickly forgotten.

They weathered a first-half storm and had Tolfrey to thank for two important saves before hitting the Shots with a sucker punch with only their second shot at goal eight minutes before the break.

Woozley climbed above defender Rhys Day from a Dannie Bulman corner and beat Nikki Bull at his near post with a powerful downward header.

The expected response from the play-off chasing home side never came after the interval and Reds could have won by a larger margin. Rendell hit a post and Blackman had a goal ruled out for offside.

Victory took Crawley up three places to 18th, one point above the drop-zone.

The only sour note of the afternoon for the visitors came deep in injury time when substitute Scott Marshall was sent off for a second bookable offence, just six minutes after coming on.

Judge said: "Everyone out there was superb and it was one of the performances of the season.

"They put us under a lot of pressure early on but after that we coped well and could have scored a few more."