Steven Schumacher enjoyed the ideal home start as his side came on out on top in a seven-goal thriller, writes Pete Oliver.
Wanderers’ new head coach saw his side twice fight back in an action-packed second half before securing all three points with a dramatic injury-time winner to move up to seventh place in League One – outside the play-off places only on goal difference.
Jordi Osei-Tutu’s first goal at the Toughsheet Stadium had got the Whites back on level terms for a first time as the wingman capped an outstanding performance with a rare headed goal in an explosive start to the second half.
Two more quick-fire goals from Crawley then threatened to spoil the party in Schumacher’s first game in charge at his new home. But following Alex Murphy’s fine strike to reduce the deficit, the Whites’ boss sent on four substitutes to try and engineer a big finish.
And with his side going for the kill, Josh Sheehan made it 3-3 before the Whites struck again through Gethin Jones’ deflected effort to send a revitalised ans raucous crowd home happy and Schumacher’s new charges to the brink of the top six on the back of a third win in four games.
Schumacher made four changes to the starting line-up for his home bow with top scorer Aaron Collins – through injury – and suspended captain George Thomason among those to miss out.
Osei-Tutu and Szabi Schön both started in wide positions ahead of a back four as Schumacher – who returned the home dug-out to its former place – also tweaked the tactics.
And the pair, along with Josh Dacres-Cogley, were both involved in some of Wanderers’ best attacking moments of a first half which brought plenty of encouraging moments without an opening goal.
With Collins missing – and new signing Kion Etete unable to take his place on the bench following a late set-back – the early forward duties fell to John McAtee.
But bar a succession of balls flashing across the penalty area, the closest the Whites went to scoring before the break was a long-range effort just over the top from Sheehan, who had also been influential in triggering some of Wanderers’ best attacking moments.
Crawley – fighting for their lives in the bottom three and with just one win in their previous nine games – hadn’t offered much of a threat in the first half they looked to break up and disrupt with stoppages in play as often as possible.
But they made a flying start to the second to lead twice in a flurry of goals.
Rushian Hepburn-Murphy had one effort well blocked by Will Forrester but buried the next chance that came his way with a fine finish into the top corner.
Wanderers’ reply was instant as Dacres-Cogley delivered a cross which Osei-Tutu met with an excellent header he steered into the far corner.
But rather than build on that, the Whites immediately surrendered the initiative as they allowed a pass from Harry Forster to go unchecked into their penalty area for Will Swan to ram home a third goal inside five minutes and give Town a 2-1 lead.
Schumacher’s men had it all to do again and almost found another equaliser as a McAtee effort was blocked in front of goal but Crawley continued to threaten on the break with some slick football and suddenly doubled their advantage with just over an hour gone.
Kamari Doyle led the counter-attack and when he picked out Hepburn-Murphy, the forward delivered another high-quality finish with a low strike across Luke Southwood and in off the far post to claim his second of the afternoon.
It was end-to-end stuff as Wanderers tried again to mount a fightback and with just over 20 minutes they grabbed another goal to revie their hopes in an increasingly-dramatic contest.
With Crawley again looking to stop the clock with a player sitting on the ground, referee Alex Chilowicz allowed Wanderers to take a quick free-kick. And when Sheehan fed Alex Murphy, the on-loan Newcastle United man rifled home his first ever senior goal in clinical style.
That prompted a quadruple change from the bench from Schumacher as he looked to build on the renewed momentum and with got an equaliser their energy and endeavour deserved.
The superb Sheehan sparked the move with another forward burst and when a shot from former Crawley man Klaidi Lolos, one of those to come on, was blocked, Sheehan’s reward for tireless running was the chance to seize on the loose ball and fire home with five minutes of normal time to go.
The visitors were then reduced to 10 men when substitute Rory Feeley was sent off for again hauling down Osei-Tutu to earn a second yellow card before Chilowicz – who gave himself a tough afternoon – added 12 minutes of stoppage time.
With the force all with Wanderers it felt like a winner would come and after McAtee had gone close, it was Jones who provided it to provide a fitting finale to a remarkable game.
Crawley’s players were out on their feet and when Aaron Morley released Jones, one of Wanderers’ longest-serving players roared into the penalty area and fired in a cross-shot which flew into the net of Town defender Charlier Bark to spark joyous scenes on a memorable first day for the new man in charge.
Wanderers: Southwood; Dacres-Cogley (Jones 70), Toal, Forrester (Matete 9), Murphy (Johnston 70); Schön (Lolos 70), Morley, Sheehan, Osei-Tutu; Randall (Adeboyejo 70); McAtee. Substitutes: Baxter, Sharples-Ahmed.
Booked: Sheehan
Crawley Town: Cox; Forster (Feeley 64), Radcliffe, Conroy, Barker; Ibrahim; John-Jules, Doyle (Showunmi 64), Camara, Swan; Hepburn-Murphy. Substitutes: Wollacott, Quitirna, Adeyemo, Papadopoulos.
Booked: Radcliffe, Barker, Feeley.
Sent off: Feeley
Referee: Alex Chilowicz
Attendance: 20,384 (258)