Rushian Hepburn-Murphy, Jeremy Kelly and Kamari Doyle were all on target as Crawley kept alive their hopes of avoiding relegation with a convincing 3-0 home win over Northampton.

Scott Lindsey went into the clash praising his Crawley players for “still being in the mix” as they were 12 points from safety from nine games remaining when he returned as manager.

Crawley’s Canadian international midfielder Liam Fraser was narrowly off target early on when he shot wide from the edge of the area after a cross from Jeremy Kelly.

Midway through the first half Crawley striker Hepburn-Murphy was unable to connect with a dangerous cross from Jack Roles on the edge of the six-yard box.

Northampton threatened for the first time when top scorer Cameron McGeehan had a close-range shot saved.

The Red Devils broke the deadlock six minutes before the break when Panutche Camara set up Hepburn-Murphy and he scored with a crisp right-foot shot low to the far post.

Crawley almost doubled their lead five minutes after the interval when a shot from Kelly was deflected onto the bar by Terry Taylor.

Hepburn-Murphy put a first-time shot before breaking clean through only to be denied by keeper Lee Burge who blocked the shot with his body.

But Kelly made it 2-0 after 67 minutes, giving Burge no chance with a right-foot finish.

Substitute Doyle sealed Crawley’s straight forward win with a minute left, firing in after Fraser’s pass.