Crawley kept their play-off hopes alive with a superb 2-0 win at second-placed Torquay this afternoon.

A week after demolishing leaders Burton 4-0, Reds cut the gap between them and the top five to eight points with a home game against Stevenage to come on Monday.

Crawley had to defend doggedly, particularly in the second half, but goalkeeper Simon Rayner only had to make two saves of note.

He kept out Tim Sills' early effort before producing a wonderful save to turn Mustapha Carayol's fiercely struck shot onto the inside of the post with seven minutes remaining.

Manager Steve Evans said: "It was a fantastic performance and to be honest we're a little disappointed it wasn't more emphatic.

"We've always said that we need a few snookers to stay in the play-off race and we produced one today and it sets up a huge game against (sixth placed) Stevenage on Monday when hopefully the Broadfield will be buzzing. We're still in there with a chance and there is no pressure on us."

Reds went in front in the 38th minute when Jamie Cook led a break down the left and cut inside his marker before teeing up Dannie Bulman who made no mistake from eight yards.

Adam Quinn nearly doubled Reds' lead on 53 minutes when his header from Lewis Killeen's corner came out off the underside of the crossbar.

After that it was backs to the wall for the visitors but they did superbly to protect their advantage and after Cook had hit the side netting after rounding keeper Scott Bevan they grabbed a second goal on the break in injury time.

Cook led a counter-attack before feeding Robbie Matthews in space on the left and the substitute's shot had enough power to beat Bevan.