Manager Phil Parkinson was full of praise for the way his Wrexham side battled with 10 men after a first-half goal from striker Ollie Palmer gave them a 1-0 victory at Crawley.

Wrexham came back three times after having a player sent off to clinch a 3-3 draw at Crewe a fortnight ago and the Red Dragons held firm for the last 24 minutes at the Broadfield Stadium with a man down to move above Crawley and into the top seven.

Palmer’s 13th-minute goal against his former club proved decisive and Parkinson was delighted with the way his men dug in after substitute Andy Cannon received a straight red card for bringing down Adam Campbell only seven minutes after coming on.

Parkinson said: “It was a huge win and there is a great togetherness about this group.

“You need to be resilient and in adversity the lads really dug deep and it was a great three points.”

Parkinson was critical of referee Ollie Yates as he had no doubt Cannon’s challenge on Campbell did not warrant a sending off.

He admitted: “The referee changed his mind after the lad rolled on the floor very theatrically.

“But back-to-back clean sheets and four points from our last two games is a very good return.

“Crawley had possession around our box but didn’t really cut us open.”

Crawley manager Scott Lindsey felt his men paid a heavy price for Danilo Orsi’s first-half miss but was “proud” of his players for the way they performed against “a really strong Wrexham side”.

He said: “I thought we did enough to win the game. I’m frustrated because we have players on the pitch who are capable of scoring.

“Wrexham scored a goal out of nothing and then put men behind the ball and banked in. We didn’t have enough guile in the final third.”

Crawley have suffered back-to-back defeats after a six-match unbeaten run and Lindsey said this must not detract from their best start since promotion to the EFL in 2011.

He added: “We want to own the football; we created more chances in the first half but probably not enough after that with the possession we had.

“Most teams will give us respect. This is high-flying Wrexham who were record-breaking in the National League last season but little old Crawley dominated the game and I’m really proud of my team.”