Crawley Town 0, Exeter City 3.

The player they call "Bestie" brought out the worst in Crawley to keep them nervously looking over their shoulder.

Former Reds winger Lee Elam sparkled against his former club as Exeter continued their march towards the play-offs with a convincing win.

The 30-year-old scored the first goal after two minutes and set up the second at the end of the first half to help inflict a first defeat in six games on his former employees.

It leaves Reds five points above the relegation places with four games remaining.

Elam, nicknamed after Manchester United legend George Best because of his ability to beat defenders, obviously enjoys playing against Crawley.

He produced a similarly eye-catching performance for Weymouth at Broadfield Stadium earlier in the season.

It is a pity he did not have as much success playing for Reds during a brief spell at the start of last season.

He struggled for form and fitness and was released after just five appearances.

Caretaker boss Ben Judge said: "Lee didn't have the best spell when he was here but every time he plays against us now he looks like a world beater.

"He destroyed us for Weymouth as well. Maybe we should have been more defensive but, after winning on Saturday, we didn't want to do that.

"We decided at the last minute to go for two wingers and looking back now maybe we shouldn't have."

Elam gave the visitors the perfect start when he pounced on a lose ball, skipped past a tackle from Magnus Okuonghae and drilled into the bottom corner from the edge of the box.

He produced another superb piece of skill 11 minutes before the break to create the goal that effectively killed off the game.

He turned Okuonghae inside out on the left flank and crossed for Wayne Carlisle to loop a stunning header from 12 yards into the top corner.

The double strike was no more than Exeter deserved for a refreshingly positive first-half display.

They could have scored another when Richard Logan's side-footed effort was saved brilliantly by keeper Ben Hamer.

Crawley only had themselves to blame for the third goal five minutes after the break. Okuonghae put his defensive partner Dave Woozley in trouble with a square pass in his own half and the big defender was robbed by Carlisle.

The midfielder raced clear and beat the impressive Hamer with a confident finish.

Judge said: "Some of the boys looked tired, which is understandable because we had a very tough game on Saturday.

"If we had lost on Saturday, maybe we could have fired into them a bit but they worked so hard at Stafford.

"We have played a lot worse this season and won, so we are not too down. "

Crawley: Hamer, Hiley (Judge 71), Okuonghae, Woozley, Bull (Rendell 71), Berry (Evans 51), Bulman, Blackburn, Evans, Benyon, Richardson. Subs not used: Tolfrey, Obersteller.

Exeter: Rice, Jones, Gill (Challinor 69), Seabourne, Todd, Taylor, Stansfield (Mackie 46), Tully, Logan (Phillips 60), Elam, Carlisle. Subs not used: Richardson, Jones.