Crawley boss Scott Lindsey felt his young team were thoroughly good value for their Carabao Cup win over Swindon – but felt they made hard work of the 4-2 home victory.
Swindon, trailing to goals from Ade Adeyemo and Jack Roles, fought back midway through the second half to score twice and also miss a penalty through Will Wright inside a six-minute period.
The Robins pulled level with goals from Nnamdi Ofoborh and substitute Harry Smith but a second long-range stunner from Roles and Rafiq Khaleel’s shot which went in off the post settled the issue late on.
Lindsey said: “I am proud of the players but I don’t like to win a game twice. We let them back in.
“We were very, very inexperienced in age and league experience and I made five changes from last Saturday.
“But the identity remains the same and the win helps me as a coach as I can see the players are buying into it.”
Crawley broke the deadlock after 34 minutes when Roles found Adeyemo and his low shot squirmed under the body of goalkeeper Jack Bycroft in front of the travelling Swindon supporters.
The home side doubled their advantage after 56 minutes, with Roles netted a beauty from 30 yards.
Ofoborh reduced the deficit on the hour by firing home from close range and Wright then had a penalty saved by Crawley keeper Jojo Wollacott after substitute Antony Papadopoulos had fouled Joel Cotterill.
Smith made it 2-2 from the resulting corner by heading in at the far post.
But Roles scored another from long range to put Crawley ahead again after 88 minutes and Khaleel raced through to score with a shot off the post a minute later.
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