Crawley boss Scott Lindsey believes his men are producing their best run of form of the season at the perfect time after the Reds’ 2-0 League Two home win over Rochdale further boosted their survival hopes.

The hosts made it 10 points out of 12 – having lost the previous six games in succession – and it has put them 10 points clear of bottom side Rochdale and four ahead of second-bottom Hartlepool, with a game in hand.

Two goals in the space of four minutes late in the first half from Dom Telford and Dion Conroy secured the points for Crawley as they gained their first home clean sheet since early December before a record league crowd of 4,717 at the Broadfield Stadium.

Lindsey was delighted that the manner of the performances has improved, and he said: “I thought we were really good at the top of the pitch and it was very important to get the points.

“The performance was very good and – although I was a tad disappointed we didn’t score more goals in the second half – the three points is a massive plus and we’ll take that.”

Lindsey felt that his men had some particularly difficult games during their six-game losing run and added: “We wanted to make the most of the run of matches we are in and performances have been very good.”

Crawley have the chance to pull further clear of the bottom two at home to Grimsby on Tuesday and Lindsey continued: “We have nine games left and we’ll be doing our best to win all nine.”

Rochdale manager Jim Bentley admitted the situation for his side was looking “bleak” after the defeat left them 10 points from safety with only eight games left.

He said: “It’s not a case of us throwing the towel in, but we are in a terrible position. It is looking bleak now.

“There are no excuses today; we were beaten by a team who wanted it more.

“The problem is we’ve come up short – if we play like that, we’ll get beaten again.”

Dale appointed Bentley at the end of August last year and asked if he had had enough, the former Morecambe boss replied: “No.

“Management can be the loneliest place in the world. It’s not a nice life at the moment. I’m proper hurting. It disappoints me.

“We got what we deserved today but we’ve got to hope we can get a win to spark something.

“I’m open to criticism, I’m in charge of the team and if we play like that at Wimbledon next week, we’ll get beat.”