If Crawley want to win some silverware this season, they will have to do a lot better than this.

Reds beat Ryman premier side St Albans in the FA Trophy to set up a mouthwatering third round tie against Dagenham and Redbridge.

The result equals their best run in the competition and ends a spell of three games without a win.

But the fact they needed extra time to see off a side who had won just once in 12 games and the almost comical number of chances it took to do it would have infuriated manager Francis Vines.

Reds found themselves a goal down after just eight minutes to the visitors' first attack of the game.

It was a sloppy one to concede as Greg Deacon was allowed time and space to cross from the right and Miguel De Souza easily out-jumped the Crawley defence to loop a header over Craig Holloway.

The goal spurred Reds on and they only had to wait ten minutes for the pressure to pay off.

It needed an own goal to do it, however, as Saints defender Corey Campbell deflected the ball into his own net after a low cross by Nigel Brake.

The game was there for the taking for Reds in the second half with the Saints' defence visibly tiring and keeper Wesley Jackman making a series of unforced errors.

But a lack of composure in front of goal saw Crawley miss numerous clear scoring chances with Charlie MacDonald one of the biggest culprits.

On 68 minutes he blasted over from five yards out after Jackman spilled a pull-back by Justin Gregory.

With ten minutes to go the former Charlton striker broke free with only the keeper to beat but saw his shot come off the inside of a post.

The breakthrough finally came in the first minute of extra time when substitute Joff Vansittart headed home from a Mo Harkin cross.

Kevin Hemsley put the game beyond doubt on a 101 minutes with a close range finish after Saints had failed to clear Harkin's corner.

Brake rounded things off in the final minute when he blasted in from three yards after another error by Jackman.

Vansittart said: "Things just didn't go for us in normal time and that can happen sometimes. We had a lot a chances but we knew we just had to keep going and eventually it would come. That's what happened and we ended up scoring four goals, so it wasn't that bad.

"I'm looking forward to playing Dagenham now because I know quite a few of their players. It will be a good test for us and I know they're not doing too well at the moment, so it could be a good time to play them."

Crawley: Holloway, Judge, Brake, Hemsley, Ready, Smith, Gregory (Payne 90), Armstrong, Wilson-Denis (Vansittart 71), MacDonald, Plummer (Harkin 61). Subs not used: Richardson, Little.

Referee: John Hopkins (Wickford).

Attendance: 445.

Man-of-the-match: Mo Harkin.