Crewe boss Lee Bell warned his side not to let their standards drop as he celebrated his 50th game in charge with a 4-2 victory at Crawley.
The visitors twice came from behind, drawing level for a second time when Crawley’s stand-in skipper Dion Conroy put through his own goal 11 minutes after the break.
Late goals from Courtney Baker-Richardson and substitute Elliot Nevitt took Crewe up to third and they remain the top scorers in the football league.
Bell was delighted with the way his side responded after describing Crawley’s first-half goals from Klaidi Lolos, which was cancelled out by Shilow Tracey, and Ronan Darcy as gifts.
He said: “We started well but gifted them two goals. But then we got our just rewards and tap-ins are the best goals for forwards.
“We are getting rewards because we’ve got good players and quality ones ready to bring on.
“I’m conscious of the goal output we have, but it’s credit to the players.
“We’re not getting carried away. We mustn’t drop our standards and this will help us achieve what we want to achieve.”
Crawley’s third successive league defeat dropped them down to 12th and manager Scott Lindsey criticised his side for “not being brave enough to step forward and win the game”.
He said: “I felt we were ponderous and too slow in our actions. We didn’t threaten the goal anywhere near enough.
“Ultimately that cost us because they score and get back in the game through us not working hard defensively.”
Lindsey’s disappointment was compounded by the fact he thought his side were in charge at half-time.
He added: “Certain things happened for the second goal I’m disappointed about. We were poor in both boxes.
“In general, the way we played and passed was very good and we were calm in possession, but when in the final third we didn’t make the keeper work hard enough for me.
“And defensively we were woeful at times.”
