Crawley Town 2 Yeovil Town 0
Marvellous Marvin Elliott headed two second-half goals on his home debut as Reds clinched back to back home wins in Sky Bet League One.
The midfielder struck on 57 and 60 minutes with Gwion Edwards and then Jimmy Smith providing the assists as Reds were rewarded for a much stronger second-half performance after Yeovil had been the side more likely to score in the first 45.
John Gregory made two changes to the side that lost 2-0 at Preston on Saturday. Josh Simpson, who has been out since the opening day of the season, and Lanre Oyebanjo returned after injury at the expense of Gavin Tomlin and Conor Henderson.
A vociferous away support were nearly cheering the opening goal in the 12th minute after some fairly even sparring.
Midfielder Joel Grant lined up a shot from 20 yards that beat Jamie Ashdown but hit the outside of the post.
It was the best either side came in a first half where Yeovil looked the more likelier to break the deadlock, although Ashdown’s goal was well protected by the men in front of him.
Keiffer Moore should have done better when he latched onto Ajay Leitch-Smith’s ball forward and got the better of Joe Walsh but skied his shot from an angle eight yards out.
Ashdown also had to make a routine stop to turn over a shot from Nathan Ralph while at the other end there was some good movement when Reds went forward but they didn’t test Jake Kean in the Yeovil goal in the first half. Smith and Gwion Edwards saw efforts blocked and Smith headed Oyebanjo’s cross wide in their best moments.
Whatever was said at half-time in the home dressing room certainly had a galvanising effect. Reds began the second period on the front foot and Wright short over after good play by Simpson before Jake Kean in the Yeovil goal was finally tested, getting behind Oyebanjo’s drive.
But Reds then scored twice in three minutes with two near identical goals.
The 57th minute opener was created by Edwards who found a pocket of space to cross from the right and ELLIOTT powered his header past Kean.
Three minutes later it was 2-0. This time Smith provided the assist, again from the right, but the outcome was the same as ELLIOTT gave Kean no chance with his close-range header.
Kean came to Yeovil’s rescue on 64 minutes when McLeod was put through on goal, saving the striker’s shot with his legs after McLeod had outpaced Aaron Martin.
McLeod went close again on 70 minutes with a side-footer from just inside the box after Edwards had played him in which hit the side-netting.
Matt Harrold and Josh Wright came on in the last 20 minutes as Reds freshened things up. Yeovil mounted a late rally and James Hayter stabbed his shot wide in a crowded box with 12 minutes to go before Grant skied a presentable effort from 12 yards.
Ashdown then produced an instinctive parry to keep out Martin’s header but Reds saw out the remaining minutes to secure three welcome points.