Kyle Dempsey’s early goal and a stunning first League One strike in a Wanderers’ shirt from substitute John McAtee continued the Whites’ revival, writes Pete Oliver.
Back at the scene of their 2021 promotion clincher, Ian Evatt’s men produced another important result as they backed up a first home league victory of the campaign by making it successive league wins to take their points’ tally into double figures with an accomplished away display.
Dempsey’s third goal of the campaign could have been the prelude to a more comfortable victory as Wanderers racked up a host of first-half chances.
But having failed to kill the game off, they then showed the resilience to keep a tidy Crawley side at bay as the Red Devils battled to avoid a fourth defeat in five league games.
And McAtee then came off the bench to make his mark in spectacular style, rifling home the 78th-minute clincher which gives Wanderers the chance to keep rebuilding their momentum with games to come at Northampton Town and at home to Shrewsbury ahead of another international break.
Dempsey’s late goal-scoring cameo a week ago against Reading earned him a start as Wanderers returned to league duty following their mid-week Carabao Cup exit at Arsenal and again the midfielder made an immediate impact by firing the Whites into an early lead.
It was a perfectly-worked corner routine, after a shot from Victor Adeboyejo had been turned around the post by Town keeper Jojo Wollacott, that led to the opening goal after just five minutes.
Josh Sheehan picked out Dempsey in space on the penalty spot and Dempsey duly drilled a first-time strike into the back of the net to give Wanderers the ideal start.
And it could and should have got better with Dempsey again involved in working an opening for both Szabi Schön and Adeboyejo to pass up shooting opportunities at the far post when either, or both, looked certain scorers.
A second goal would have given Evatt’s men complete control and with a quarter of an hour gone it almost came again when the busy Dempsey won possession for Dion Charles to launch a superb run which ended with Wollacott making a fine save to touch the ball wide.
The home side – with Ben Gladwin in charge for the first time following the departure of promotion-winning manager Scott Lindsey to MK Dons – were on the ropes but having avoided a further blow felt their way into the contest.
Former Wanderer Ronan Darcy was instrumental in some decent passages of play but despite plenty of possession Town didn’t force Nathan Baxter into a meaningful save before the break and twice more the Whites went close to adding to their lead.
Charles was again just thwarted following another piercing run and in first-half stoppage time Dempsey was only inches away from doubling his tally when Josh Dacres-Cogley pulled the ball back and he rattled the underside of the bar via the finger tips of Wollacott with a shot which then bounced down and away from the goal.
Without the cushion of that second goal Wanderers still had work to do and needed to repel some Crawley pressure early in the second half while not taking a couple of opportunities to pounce on the counter-attack.
And with the Whites not keeping the ball long enough to build up some momentum of their own Evatt made his first changes with 20 minutes to go as Aaron Collins and McAtee provided fresh legs up front.
Ricardo Almeida Santos offered some respite with a header touched over the bar by Wollacott and as Wanderers raised themselves for a late push to get over the line they went 2-0 up with a quarter of an hour to go to finally safeguard the points.
Collins and McAtee had started at Arsenal with McAtee providing the assist for Collins to score and this time the roles were reversed as McAtee was the scorer with a brilliant strike to calm any nerves.
A forward run by Schön then allowed Collins to pick out McAtee who had plenty to do from just inside the corner of the penalty area and did it magnificently as he pushed the ball out in front of him and then hammered a shot into the roof of the net.
That was enough to guarantee a second away league success and with a second clean sheet of the campaign also secured this was another building block efficiently put in place in Wanderers’ recovery from their slow start to the season.
Wanderers: Baxter; Toal. Almeida Santos, Johnston; Sheehan; Dacres-Cogley, Dempsey (Matete 77), Thomason (Arfield 83), Schön; Charles (McAtee 69), Adeboyejo (Collins 69). Substitutes: Southwood, Williams, Inwood.
Booked: Adeboyejo, Thomason, Collins, Evatt
Crawley: Wollacott; Mullarkey, Mukena, Flint; Armando (Roles 77), Williams (Hepburn-Murphy 77), Bragg (Ibrahim 68), Kelly; Camara (Forster 68), Darcy; Swan (Adeyemo 60). Substitutes: Barker, Anderson.
Booked: Kelly, Mukean
Referee: Jacob Miles
Attendance: 4,696 (1,069 Bolton)