A few eyebrows were raised when Francis Vines was appointed manager of Crawley just over a year ago.

The reaction of many people outside the town was Francis who?

How could a man, whose only managerial experience was with Crawley reserves, galvanise one of non-league's biggest sleeping giants? You can be sure they know all about him now.

Reds won the Sussex Senior and the Dr Martens Cups last season. They have reached the final of the League Cup again this year and went top of the premier division last week after beating title-rivals Weymouth in front of a record crowd at the Broadfield Stadium.

Vines won the manager-of-the-month award for February which, like management as a whole, he has taken in his stride.

He said: "Of course I'm pleased with how it's going but there is still a lot of work to do and I'm not going to relax.

"I'm not bothered about winning the manager-of-the-month award. All I'm interested in is winning that huge trophy at the end of the season.

"We wanted to be challenging for the title at the start of the season so I wouldn't say this year has surpassed my expectations. I'm ambitious and want to do well in anything I do. That's what I expect my players to be like as well and at the moment they are."

Vines, 42, arrived at Broadfield Stadium as a player in 1999 when Crawley were fighting relegation under former manager Billy Smith.

He was well known as a talented striker after prolific spells at Sutton United and Kingstonian, where he scored 101 goals in 176 appearances between 1989-93.

He was appointed reserve team manager in 2001 and led Crawley to the Suburban League south division title and Sussex Intermediate Cup in his first season.

Vines, who was born in London, took temporary charge of the first team when Smith resigned in January 2003. He seemd to be keeping the hot-seat warm for a big-name boss as Crawley advertised nationally for a replacement.

But seven wins in ten games convinced the Crawley board Vines was their man and he saw off 28 other candidates, including six with league experience.

Supporters Club Chairman Kevin Giles said: "I don't think anybody could have envisaged what he would do.

"There were quite a few people who were surprised by his appointment, but now I don't think there is a supporter who has any doubt that he's the right man.

"I think the board took a chance on him and good on them for doing it. Their decision has been justified and, hopefully, we will keep doing well for the rest of the season."

There have been 15 managerial changes at Crawley in 11 years.

Former professionals like Brian Sparrow, Steve Wicks, Tony Vessey and Colin Pates all had money to spend but failed to deliver.

Dave Haining, Ted Shepherd, John Maggs, Cliff Cant and Smith all tried but found the job too big.

Managing director Steve Duly insists the board knew they had the right man when they appointed Vines.

He said: "The board did not see it as a gamble. We spoke to a number of so-called big names. Most of them made a lot of big promises but we weren't sure they could back them up.

"Francis didn't make promises. He talked about hard work and getting the best out of his players and that was the sort of manager we wanted.

"I think Billy Smith did well to build a good foundation but Francis has taken it up a level. Now we are challenging for Conference football which is where we want to be."

Vines' success has been helped by financial backing from the board. Injury problems have been quickly solved with loan deals.

Crawley were prepared to break their transfer record to sign Stevenage striker Tony Battersby last month but the deal fell through. Last week Reds paid a four-figure sum to Folkestone for striker Allan Tait.

Duly said: "We don't want any manager to turn round and say they did not have enough ammunition to do well. You have to speculate a bit to get success but we will only make funds available if the club is challenging.

"We have done well before but then faded. This year the difference has been the attitude of the players. They believe they can win the league which is not something we've had before and I think a lot of that is down to Francis."