Crawley moved to the brink of the Sky Bet League Two play-off places with a 1-0 win at Rochdale

This was no smash and grab raid from the visitors, who ran out comfortable winners despite the narrow scoreline.

The only goal of the game came when the home side were punished for some dire defending in the 14th minute.

Aaron Morley played a square pass across his own penalty area, Nick Tsaroulla pounced and though he dragged his shot, it ran invitingly for Kwesi Appiah to slide in and score from six yards.

The visitors were close to a second when Jake Hessenthaler forced a full-stretch save out of Joel Coleman.

After the break, Jack Payne was a whisker away from a second goal for Crawley with a superb 25-yard drive which clipped the top of the crossbar and Jeriel Dorsett and Corey O’Keeffe blocked shots from Hessenthaler.

On a day when Rochdale created little, their best efforts came late on, Morley pulling a shot wide from 18 yards in the 90th minute and Matt Done kept out by goalkeeper Glenn Morris in time added on.